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J?eattfs CDngltsl) Classics 

THE ESSAYS 

OR 

COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL 

OF 

FRANCIS BACON 

EDITED BY 

FRED ALLISON HOWE, LL.B., Ph.D. 

HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, STATE NORMAL 
SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS 

1908 



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lUBRARYof C(;r 

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FEB 29 1908 
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Copyright, 1908, 
By D. C. Heath & Co. 



PREFACE 

This volume aims to supply the student with a clear, accurate 
text of Bacon's Essays, together with such assistance in the way 
of references and notes as is requisite to their appreciation. Rather 
more than the usual amount of help appears necessary in the case 
of a writer remote enough to use English that sounds somewhat 
foreign to ears unaccustomed to any but the modern idiom ; whose 
copiousness of allusion and illustration is often a hindrance rather 
than an aid to clearness, since time has swept aside many of 
the beliefs from which such illustrations took their point ; and 
whose style, in the Essays, is compressed to sententiousness, if not 
often to obscurity. Whenever possible the author has been allowed 
to explain himself, one passage being cited to illuminate another ; 
and the student's interpretation has been put upon a practical basis 
of self-help through references to authority, or through inductive 
questions, direct information being supplied only when that ap- 
peared to be the' necessary or the most economical method. The 
notes have been written with the aim to stimulate and direct the 
student's thinking and research rather than to take the place of 
such effort. 

Here and there a direct connection is made in the notes between 
some view or theory of life and conduct expressed in the text and 
ideas now current. To use the frequent occasions which the Essays 
offer for such connection, putting the questions there discussed 
to the test of actual experience, is to make use of the chief means 
of interest in the study. Written exercises in the interpretation 
of the Essays will give useful opportunities for comparative study 
of subject-matter and occasion for noting all essential character- 
istics of style. The test of success in the study of the Essays is, 

iii 



IV 



PREFACE 



whether or not, as a consequence, the student's own thinking is 
invigorated and vitalized. 

The Glossary sums up the chief verbal difficulties in one list for 
convenient examination and cross-reference. The introductory 
matter is intended to give a point of view and to furnish the broad 
outlines of the social and historical background, to be filled in by 
'supplementary reading from such books as are named in the 
reference list. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction vii 

The Period vii 

Biographical Sketch of Bacon xiii 

Bacon's Character ........ xx 

Bacon's Influence upon- the Advancement of Science . xxii 

Bacon as a Writer xxiv 

Reference Books xxxii 

Chronology xxxiv 

Leading English Writers Contemporary with Bacon xxxvii 

ESSAYS * 

I. Of Truth i 

II. Of Death 4 

III. Of Unity in Religion 6 

IV. Of Revenge 12 

V. Of Adversity 13 

VI. Of Simulation and Dissimulation . . 15 

VII. Of Parents and Children 18 

VVIII. Of Marriage and Single Life .... 20 

^IX. Of Envy 22 

X. Of Love 28 

XL Of Great Place 30 

XII. Of Boldness 34 

XIII. Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature .. . 37 

XIV. ' Of Nobility 39 

XV. Of Seditions and Troubles . . . .41 

XVI. Of Atheism 49 

XVII. Of Superstition 53 

XVIII. Of Travel 55 

XIX. Of Empire 58 



* For courses having a limited time and as an aid to those who prefer a more 
thorough reading of a smaller number of essays, the following list is suggested 
as containing essays representative of Bacon's style and the scope of his plan, 
and appealing directly to modern interests: Essays i, ii, iv, v, vi, ix, xi, xii, xiii, 
xviii, xx, xxi, xxiii, xxiv, xxv, xxvi, xxvii, xxviii, xxix, xxx, xxxi, xxxii, xxxiv, 
xxxvi, xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xiii, xlvii, 1, lii, liii, lv, lvii. 



VI 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

XX. Of Counsel 63 

XXI. Of Delays 68 

XXII. Of Cunning 69 

XXIII. Of Wisdom for a Man's Self ... 73 

XXIV. Of Innovations 75 

XXV. Of Dispatch 77 

XXVI. Of Seeming Wise 79 

XXVII. Of Friendships 80 

XXVIII. Of Expense 89 

XXIX. Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and 

Estates 90 

XXX. Of Regiment of Health . . . .101 

XXXI. Of Suspicion 103 

XXXII. Of Discourse 105 

XXXIII. Of Plantations 107 

XXXIV. Of Riches in 

XXXV.. Of Prophecies . . . . . . 115 

XXXVI. Of Ambition 118 

XXXVII. Of Masques and Triumphs . . . .121 

XXXVIII. Of Nature in Men 123 

XXXIX. Of Custom and Education . . . . 125 

XL. Of Fortune 127 

XLI. Of Usury 129 

XLII. Of Youth and Age 134 

XLIII. Of Beauty 136 

XLIV. Of Deformity 137 

XLV. Of Building 139 

XLVI. Of Gardens 144 

XLVII. Of Negotiating 151 

XLVIII. Of Followers and Friends . . . . 153 

XLIX. Of Suitors 155 

L. Of Studies^, 157 

LI. Of Faction 159 

LII. Of Ceremonies and Respects . . .161 

LIII. Of Praise 163 

LIV. Of Vainglory 165 

LV. Of Honor and Reputation . . . .167 

LVI. Of Judicature 169 

LVII. Of Anger 174 

LVIII. Of Vicissitude of Things . . . .177 

A Fragment of an Essay: Of Fame . . 183 

Notes 185 

Glossary 229 

Index 237 



INTRODUCTION ■ 

The Period 

Some men are great because they outrun their own age 
and anticipate the future ; some are great because they em- 
body in themselves the characteristics of their own time. 
Francis Bacon was great because he did both. Here we 
shall note how he reflected the tendencies of his own time. 
Later, in considering his influence upon after times, we shall 
have occasion to see how he outstripped the age in which he 
lived. 

Bacon's life practically covers the reigns of Elizabeth and 
James I. In general this period was one of settled political 
and social conditions, of peace and material prosperity. Such 
a time, affording men freedom to follow other pursuits than 
that of mere self-preservation, is always favorable to intel- 
lectual culture and general progress. Human energies can 
then be employed in extending man's dominion over nature 
through exploration, discovery, and invention, and in deepen- 
ing and broadening human life and character, through the 
cultivation of art, of philosophy, and of literature. 

The Reign of Elizabeth. — When, in 1558, two years before 
the birth of Francis Bacon, Elizabeth ascended the throne of 
England, she found the realm in a wretched state. The mis- 
/rule of her sister Mary had helped to intensify the hatred and 
strife between Protestants and Roman Catholics ; the coun- 
try had suffered humiliation and defeat in war ; the nation was 
deeply in debt ; and a feeling of social and political instability 
and a fear of foreign invasion were rife among all classes of 
people. 



viii FRANCIS BACON 

Whatever her faults, Queen Elizabeth possessed an unusual 
endowment of shrewd good sense, and displayed great political 
sagacity in dealing with the difficult problems presented by the 
situation with which she was confronted. She chose as her 
counselors able and energetic men, and began at once the 
task of extricating the country from its most serious difficul- 
ties, pursuing a steady policy of preserving peace both among 
the factions of her realm, and between England and foreign 
nations. She began by concluding a treaty with France, and 
exerted every effort to allay the internal dissensions of the 
country, repressing religious controversy with a strong hand. 
Yet, although she exacted outward conformity to the estab- 
lished religion, she firmly refused to make inquisition into the 
private beliefs of the people, or to countenance religious per- 
secution. Gradually the country grew more united, and the 
dangers of religious strife became less threatening. With the 
destruction of the Armada in 1588, the menace of foreign 
invasion passed, and left the English people a unit in national 
loyalty and patriotic pride. 

Industrial Development in England. — The consequences 
of this condition of settled peace were far-reaching. England 
entered at once upon an era of wonderful industrial and com- 
mercial development. Better methods of tilling the soil were 
found, and the earth was made to yield a greater abundance 
and a better quality of food for the support of human life. 
English ships found their way into all parts of the world, 
carrying out the products of domestic industry, and bringing 
back the gold, sugar, and tobacco of the New World, the cotton 
of India, and the silks and spices of the Far East. Instead 
of exporting wool to be manufactured into cloth in Holland, 
England had induced Dutch weavers to set up their looms 
within her borders, and had soon developed the industry 
at home. Wealth poured into the country, and living became 
easier and life more pleasant. Dwellings were improved; 



INTRODUCTION ix 

rushes were discarded for carpets, and chimneys rendered 
the fireside more cheerful and attractive. The printing-press 
was bringing the means of wider learning within the reach of 
the common people. It was a time of great material pros- 
perity, a time in which the entire nation felt a new joy and 
enthusiasm in life and a new impetus to progress. 

Intellectual Progress. — Nor was the period one of material 
advancement alone, but of intellectual progress as well. Won- 
derful discoveries were made in science ; and the New World 
beyond the sea, that offered to men's imaginations an ever 
potent charm and stimulus, seemed but the physical prototype 
of a soon-to-be-discovered and no less marvellous domain of 
human intellect. It is little wonder that roseate hopes and 
extravagant speculations were kindled. As men heard the 
wonderful accounts of discoveries from explorers newly re- 
turned from strange and distant lands or discussed the latest 
marvels of scientific research, they could hardly do less than 
dream of some New Atlantis, wherein science should achieve 
a speedy conquest over the secret forces of Nature. 

To live in England during such a time meant to enjoy a 
wider field for activity and a greater scope of individual oppor- 
tunity than had ever before been offered to man. Behind this 
national spirit of progress was, of course, intense personal 
aspiration and ambition. The English Renaissance, like the 
earlier Italian, expressed itself largely in a deep interest in, 
and devotion to, certain forms of art, and especially literature. 
No. period of English letters before or since is graced with 
such names as those of Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe, Ben Jonson, 
Shakespeare, and Bacon. Merely to mention them is to recall 
the Golden Age of English letters. 

Individualism. — Like the Italian Renaissance also, the era 
under consideration was marked by a distinctly increasing 
tendency on the part of the people at large to improve their 
widening opportunities by seeking each for himself a more 



x FRANCIS BACON 

complete realization of his personal interests and aims. This 
individualistic movement expressed itself in many forms. One 
of these was the extravagant and exaggerated fashions of 
dress and deportment, frequently copied from foreign coun- 
tries, and freely adapted to individual taste or whim. Portia's 
description of the costume and manners of her English suitor 
in the Merchant of Venice (Act I, sc. 2) is only the most 
familiar of the allusions to this love of what was striking and 
even eccentric in costume and conduct with which the litera- 
ture of the time abounds : " How oddly he is suited! I think 
he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his 
bonnet in Germany, and his behavior everywhere." For an 
expression of Bacon's view of this tendency, read the closing 
sentences of the essay Of Travel. 

This individualistic spirit reveals itself to some extent in the 
eager interest shown in matters of personal accomplishment. 
It shows itself in the assiduity with which the Italian art of 
fencing was cultivated ; in the new interest in music, and its 
popular study and practice ; in the polite study of Greek and 
Italian ; and in the development of the social art as set forth in 
numerous manuals of courtesy and polite manners mostly 
translated from the Italian. It is reflected in Bacon's frequent 
references to personal policy and social conduct, as in the es- 
says Of Ceremonies and Respects, Of Discourse, and Of Travel. 

"The Art of Advancement." — Still another indication of the 
emphasis upon the individual is found in the increased atten- 
tion given to means and methods of personal advancement, 
the earnest study of what Bacon calls " the art of advancement 
in life," the art based upon " wisdom for a man's self." In 
literature this personal aspiration for power and greatness 
found expression in such works as the tragedies of Christopher 
Marlowe and the heroic drama generally ; but it was in 
political life that the readiest opportunity was offered for the 
practical realization of such ambitions. Hence the art of 



INTRODUCTION xi 

politics was attentively studied by those whose station and 
other qualifications were favorable to advancement in the 
service of the state. The means and methods of rising to 
places of distinction and power were studied as if they were 
principles reducible to an exact science. For illustration, in 
the essay Of Great Place Bacon writes : " All rising to great 
place is by a winding stair ; and if there be factions, it is good 
to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance 
himself when he is placed. 11 This art of politics, like the other 
arts, came into England from Italy ; but before we examine it 
further we must note one or two important considerations. 

The dominant political ideas of a nation are potent influences 
in the lives of the people ; but we must not suppose that the 
art of politics as employed by professional politicians in 
Bacon's time comprised all such ideas. Political as well as 
religious differences had been adjusted outwardly, but under- 
neath the plans of the ambitious politician and the policy of 
the rigid ecclesiastic there were at work democratic and re- 
formatory ideas and influences that soon after the time of 
Bacon brought about a complete political reconstruction. 
But the political ideas that chiefly influenced Bacon in a practi- 
cal way were those underlying Italian statecraft ; with demo- 
cratic notions of government he concerned himself little except 
by way of reprobation. 

Italian Influence. — The chief foreign influence affecting 
English life and literature, especially during the earlier part of 
this period, was Italian. It was to Italy that English scholar- 
ship, for example, turned for inspiration and direction. A 
visit to that country was considered an essential part of a com- 
plete education ; and the Italian language and literature were 
assiduously studied by those who aspired to the distinction of 
culture. Italian books were liberally translated into English, 
and Italian life, history, and manners were freely drawn upon 
by English writers. Bacon frequently refers to Italy and the 



xii FRANCIS BACON 

Italians, especially Machiavelli, as in the essays Of Goodness, 
and Goodness of Nature, Of Custom and Education, and Of 
Fortune. Especially in demand by the English playwrights as 
popular dramatic material were the secret plottings, intrigues, 
treachery, and assassinations popularly regarded as the princi- 
pal occupations of Italian political life. The extent of this 
" Italian craze " might be inferred from the violent denuncia- 
tions it received in such books as Puttenham's Arte of English 
Poesie and in Puritan tracts like Philip Stubbs 1 s Anafomie of 
Abuses. 

The Italian statesman Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), as 
the English people of Elizabethan times conceived him, was 
the embodiment of their idea of Italian political morality. 
Elizabethan literature contains many passages showing that 
his name was a synonym for treachery and tyranny and that 
his influence was held as a deadly poison, though of course 
absolutists in government like Francis Bacon were more 
favorably disposed toward him. He was judged rather by 
hearsay than by his writings, and many views were attributed 
to him of which he was not guilty. According to the histo- 
rian J. R. Green, his influence first entered England through 
Thomas Cromwell, whose state policy was closely modelled on 
that of Machiavelli's Prince and Discourses on Livy. Machia- 
velli's reputation has improved in later years, since it has 
been recognized that he was the first to apply scientific 
methods to politics, and that his views only reflected the 
spirit of the times ; yet no amount of research into the his- 
tory of his age can make his principles less vicious in them- 
selves. 

Bacon's Political Principles. — It was from Machiavelli 
that English politicians who aspired to power and greatness 
took much of their " art of getting on." The cardinal prin- 
ciple of that art was that the means is justified by the end — 
anything to win. Bacon, whose father was immersed in poli- 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

tics, came early within the influence of Machiavellian ideas, 
and spent his life in the midst of political scheming and 
intrigue. The Puritan training received from his mother 
rendered underhand methods of success distasteful to him, 
but he gradually yielded to the demands of policy, finding it 
impossible for a politician to maintain one standard of moral 
conduct for his professional, and a different one for his pri- 
vate, personal life. The influence of Machiavelli upon Bacon 
is no doubt accountable in some degree for the frequent dis- 
cussion in the Essays of the duties and policy of princes {Of 
Counsel, Of Ambition) ; the belief that " crookedness " is es- 
sential to political success {Of Goodness, and Goodness of 
Nature) ; the opinion that " a habit of secrecy is politic and 
moral,'" that " dissimulation followeth upon secrecy by a ne- 
cessity," with its implication of the morality of deceit ; the 
principle that if a man cannot exercise sound judgment what 
to conceal and what to reveal, then he may dissemble as the 
safest policy ; and like views {Of Simulation and Dissimu- 
lation) . 

It is an interesting study to trace in Bacon's Essays the 
indications of such influences as have here been discussed. 
The student should add to his knowledge of the general con- 
ditions of the period under consideration, and observe how 
these are reflected in the thoughts and motives of one of the 
greatest men that period produced. 

Biographical Sketch of Bacon 

Bacon's Boyhood. — The boyhood of Francis Bacon, un- 
like that of many great men, was one whose every circum- 
stance was favorable to the growth of genius. He was born 
in a social class of influence and distinction. His father, Sir 
Nicholas Bacon, was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, one 
of Queen Elizabeth's trusted officers of state, whose duties 



xiv FRANCIS BACON 

brought him into intimate association with the leaders of 
government. His mother, a daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, 
— another of whose daughters had become the wife of Sir 
William Cecil, afterward Lord Burleigh, Lord Treasurer of 
England, — was a woman of unusual intellectual power and 
attainments. Francis, born January 22, 1560, at York House, 
London, his father's official residence, was the youngest child 
of the family, which included six children of the Lord 
Keeper's former marriage, besides Francis' own elder brother 
Anthony. 

Francis was a delicate child, with a precocious gravity of 
deportment and a readiness of wit that greatly amused the 
Queen, who used to call him her little Lord Keeper. We are 
told that when a mere child he once ran away from his com- 
panions to investigate the cause of a singular echo he had 
observed in a vault in St. James' Fields, and that at the age 
of twelve he engaged in some ingenious speculations concern- 
ing the art of legerdemain. 

The Beginning of his Philosophy. — In his thirteenth year 
Francis entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he re- 
mained nearly three years. It was during this time, accord- 
ing to some accounts, that he conceived the great intellectual 
revolution that has since been associated with his name. It 
was this aim, so early defined, that, according to his biogra- 
pher Mr. Spedding, determined the course of his whole after 
life, supplying the motive for his long struggle for position 
and power as the necessary means of attaining that higher end. 
His studies at Cambridge impressed him with the unproduc- 
tiveness of much of the philosophy in vogue at that time, 
which he used to say was strong only for disputation and con- 
tention, but useless in furthering the well-being of mankind. 

The Beginning of his Political Life. — It was his father's 
plan that Francis should be trained for diplomatic life; ac- 
cordingly after leaving Cambridge he took service with Sir 



INTRODUCTION xv 

Amyas Paulet, the English ambassador to Paris. After about 
two years of diplomatic training in this stirring capital, dur- 
ing which time the young man made good use of his oppor- 
tunities, he was recalled to London by the unexpected death 
of his father. Here he found that his father's purpose to set 
aside for him a certain sum of money had been frustrated by 
death, and that he must at once apply himself to the serious 
business of earning a living. Although hardly fitted by 
nature for the legal profession, at the age of eighteen he be- 
gan the study of law at Gray's Inn, after having tried in vain 
to secure a government position that would enable him to 
devote himself to philosophical study. According to his own 
belief, expressed later in life, it was because his uncle, then 
Lord Treasurer of England, looked on him as a rival of his 
cousin, the younger Cecil, that he received no aid from that 
source in his political ambitions. 

In 1584, Bacon was elected member of the House of Com- 
mons as representative of Melcombe Regis, and he served in a 
like capacity for a number of years thereafter. About this time 
he sketched the first outlines of his inductive philosophy, in a 
Latin treatise which he named (as he wrote not long before 
his death) "with great confidence and a magnificent title, 
'The Greatest Birth of Time.'" While representing Mid- 
dlesex in the Parliament of 1593, he gave deep offense to the 
Queen by a speech in which he urged constitutional objections 
against her proposal to raise money by subsidy for national 
defense. In her resentment Elizabeth for a time forbade him 
her presence, and long refused to listen to the pleas of his 
friends and himself for governmental preferment. 

The Career of Essex. — Among these friends, the most con- 
spicuous and the most persistent in Bacon's behalf was the 
Earl of Essex, a young nobleman about six years the junior of 
Bacon, whose acquaintance the latter had made about 1688, 
and whose brief and tragic career is closely associated with 



xvi FRANCIS BACON 

Bacon's own life history. Essex was proud, generous, impet- 
uous, and ambitious of military glory; he was a prime favorite 
of the Queen, who entrusted to him more than one martial en- 
terprise and consulted him in numerous matters of state policy. 
But his influence with Elizabeth proved insufficient, despite all 
his urgency, to persuade her to find a place for his friend Fran- 
cis Bacon, who sued in vain for the place of Attorney, and 
then for that of Solicitor-General. Piqued at the Queen's 
obduracy, and moved by loyalty to his friend, Essex made 
Bacon a present of an estate since known as Twickenham Park, 
which Bacon later sold for a sum equivalent to about sixty 
thousand dollars. Some six years after receiving this gift 
Bacon explained that in accepting it he had expressly stipulated 
against any implied obligation on his part that might conflict 
with his loyalty to the Queen. 

Gradually the relations between Essex and Queen Elizabeth 
grew strained, though Bacon did all he could to urge his friend 
to employ conciliatory tactics, giving him a series of minute 
directions how to humor the Queen's moods and to flatter her, 
as by undertaking a project that he knew she would not favor 
for the sole purpose of pleasing her by dropping it at her 
request. The climax came through the failure of Essex to put 
down the Irish uprising known as Tyrone's rebellion. At the 
very time when he had won every advantage over the forces of 
the Irish leader, Essex, suspecting that plots against him were 
hatching in his absence, disobeyed the Queen's injunction to 
accept nothing but complete surrender, and to remain in 
Ireland until ordered home ; he concluded a hasty compromise 
with the enemy, and hurried back to London to defend him- 
self against the accusations of his political enemies. The out- 
come was that he was at first placed under restraint, and 
though soon afterward given his liberty, was not restored to 
the Queen's favor. 

For some months the haughty and high-tempered Earl 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

chafed under the marks of the Queen's displeasure, until at last 
he rushed into the fatal error of encouraging an uprising among 
his adherents, in an attempt to enlist the support of the citizens 
of London against the government. For this treason he was 
arrested, tried, convicted, and executed. 

Bacon's Prosecution of Essex. — Bacon took a leading part in 
the prosecution of his friend and benefactor and conducted the 
case with what seemed unnecessary harshness and persistency. 
This action has attached to Bacon's name a stigma of ingrati- 
tude and disloyalty from which, in spite of the many plausible 
excuses that have been offered, it has never yet been entirely 
cleared. The impression that he deliberately sacrificed Essex 
in the hope of currying favor with the Queen is strengthened 
by the fact that he undertook to justify the execution of Essex 
by writing " A declaration of the Practices and Treasons at- 
tempted and committed by Robert, late Earl of Essex, and 
his accomplices," making use of every possible means of black- 
ening the memory of the unfortunate young nobleman. But 
if Bacon hoped by such means to gain any substantial favors 
at the hands of Elizabeth, he was disappointed. 

Knighthood; Marriage. — The death of the Queen in 1603 
and the accession of James I encouraged Bacon to make a new 
attempt to gain a place for himself; and he lost no time in 
getting himself recommended to the new King's favor. Soon 
afterward we find him receiving the honor of knighthood, and 
in 1604 an appointment as " ordinary member of His Majesty's 
Learned Counsel." 

In 1 606, having "found out an alderman's daughter to his 
liking, a handsome maiden," Alice Barnham, Bacon married 
her. Her dowry was a liberal one, though less than Bacon 
had hoped to secure by an earlier suit for the hand of Sir 
William Hatton's rich young widow, who had preferred to be- 
come the wife of Bacon's famous political rival and enemy, Sir 
Edward Coke. 



xviii FRANCIS BACON 

Political Advancement. — Bacon was made Solicitor-General 
in 1607; Attorney-General in 1613; a member of the Privy 
Council in 1616; Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in 1617; 
Baron Verulam of Verulam, and Lord Chancellor in 1618; 
and Viscount St. Albans in 1620. Thus after years of struggle 
and impatient waiting, his ambition for place and power was 
rewarded in full measure. But the right moment for the use 
of this attainment in furthering his philosophical aims did not 
seem to arrive, and the height to which he had risen served only 
to render his impending downfall more tragically disastrous. 

Political Downfall. — In 1620 Bacon was charged by a dis- 
appointed suitor with accepting money for the furtherance of a 
suit being tried before him. The charge was investigated by 
Parliament, whose determination to make an example of the 
offender was, it would seem, not wholly inspired by a pure love 
of justice. Unable to defend himself against the accusation 
of corruption in office, supported by the evidences produced, 
Bacon wrote and transmitted to Parliament his " confession and 
humble submission of me the Lord Chancellor," wherein he 
admitted himself guilty of having received gifts from parties to 
suits tried before him, but disclaimed any criminal intent, and 
denied having been influenced in his decisions by such presents. 
The penalty imposed upon him was severe, or rather would 
have been, had it been exacted to the full. He was fined 
forty thousand pounds, forbidden ever again to hold public 
office, banished from the court, and sentenced to imprisonment 
during the pleasure of the King. He was confined in the 
Tower, but was almost immediately released ; his fine was re- 
mitted ; and most of the other punishment was revoked by the 
King's act. (Note what Bacon says about bribery in the essay 
Of Great Place.) 

His Studies in Science and Philosophy. — Bacon never 
recovered from the effects of his loss of position and the 
disgrace it involved. However, he could at last devote his 



INTRODUCTION xix 

undivided attention to the prosecution of his philosophical 
and scientific aims, and this he proceeded to do for the rem- 
nant of his lifetime, with an energy that seems like a sort of 
expiation for his long neglect of them. 

Even in his college days Bacon reprobated the futile 
scholastic philosophy that was still taught. He felt that 
philosophy should be based upon a study of Nature, and 
should begin by developing a logical method for such study. 
This conviction led him into a long search for a more fruitful 
scientific method. He had made a preliminary survey of the 
subject in his Greatest Birth of Time already mentioned ; 
but during his middle life his political duties gave him no 
leisure for such work, although, as his writings indicate, he 
never relinquished his purpose of perfecting his method of 
scientific investigation. In 1603 he completed the first book 
of the Advancement of Learning, and he continued to use his 
available time in writing upon the interpretation of Nature. 
The Advancement of Learning was published in 1605, and 
the next year was translated into Latin. 

In 1620 he published his Novum Orgamim, or new instru- 
ment for the advancement of knowledge, of which only the 
first part was completed, showing the nature of the new method 
of inquiry which he would substitute for the old instrument 
or method, the Grganon of Aristotle. 

After his downfall he had but five years of life in which to 
perfect the details of his method, a time far too short for so 
great a work. His death was due to the results of cold in- 
curred in making an experiment with snow as a means of 
preserving meat. On a cold March day, he stopped his coach 
in the snow on his way to Highgate, and buying a hen from a 
woman by the way, had it dressed and stuffed its body with 
snow. Taking a sudden chill he was forced to seek shelter 
at the house of a stranger, Lord Arundel, where he died on 
Easter morning, April 9, 1626. 



XX FRANCIS BACON 

Bacorts Character 

His Character revealed in the Essays. — It is in the Essays 
that Bacon reveals more fully and clearly than elsewhere in 
his writings the distinguishing traits of his character. From 
a study of his more pretentious works we could make out 
certain general qualities of his genius which he shared with 
other men of great intellectual gifts ; but without an acquaint- 
ance with the Essays, in which he embodied his most earnest 
and intimate beliefs about the conduct of life, we could not 
completely possess ourselves with his essential personality. 
Making use of a knowledge of his life as an aid to the inter- 
pretation of the Essays, one may arrive at a fair conception of 
the kind of man who lived the one and wrote the other. 

Various Views. — It is true that his biographers have main- 
tained widely different views of his character. Some, like Mr. 
Spedding, exalt him as a lofty minded philanthropist whose 
every action sprang directly from an unselfish purpose to 
better human life by putting into man's hand the key to 
Nature's treasure-house ; others, like Macaulay, construe 
much of his life as the evidence and result of base and selfish 
motives ; and still others see in him strangely contradictory 
qualities, though perhaps not going quite to the length of 
regarding him, with Pope, as " the wisest, brightest, meanest, 
of mankind." But in spite of these divergencies of view, the 
general verdict of time upon Bacon's character is clear enough. 

His Moral Endowment. — Gifted by nature with a breadth, a 
force, and a clearness of thought that made the handling of 
great and lofty themes his habit and recreation ; possessed 
also of a rare versatility of mind that rendered him almost 
equally at home in the realm of the commonplace and minute, 
— an intellectual endowment ranking him next to Shake- 
speare himself in the peerage of English genius, — Bacon, 
nevertheless, fell far below the master poet in certainty and 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

stability of moral purpose and conviction. That he could see 
clearly enough what right motives and right conduct are is 
abundantly attested in his writings, particularly in the Essays; 
but that he often embraced the wrong in practice, and advo- 
cated it in theory as necessary to success, is no less clear in 
his writings and in his life. We are told that he stooped 
reluctantly to the adoption of these unworthy means of 
" getting on in life " ; but even a reluctant yielding is a proof 
of moral weakness. It is but little palliation of this weakness 
that he only shared, as his apologists sometimes urge, in the 
prevailing low morality of the times in which he lived. This 
merely shows that in this one fundamental characteristic he 
was not great enough to rise above the low general level of 
his day. 

His Coldness of Nature. — In another respect Bacon's nature 
was less richly endowed, less fully rounded, than that of 
Shakespeare ; his intellect was not so evenly balanced by a 
capability of feeling and emotion. In him no sentiment or 
affection arose to warm or tinge the cold clear light of his 
intellectual vision. His was a singularly passionless nature ; 
he seemed not to possess the power either to hate his enemies 
or to love his friends, — only to make a cool, calculating use 
of each as his purposes might require. Though, as Ben Jon- 
son testifies of him, " he was one of the greatest men, and 
most worthy of admiration, 1 ' it does not appear that he in- 
spired any warmer feeling than admiration among his closest 
associates. He had only one personal friend, and him he 
basely deserted when to do so appeared to favor his own ad- 
vancement, and not to do so seemed fraught with possible 
danger. It was not without a thought of her wealth that he 
once sought the hand of a certain young widow ; and it may 
not be without significance that the fair Alice whom he after- 
ward married was provided with a liberal dowry. He says 
that men ought to beware of the " weakness " of love, which 



XX11 FRANCIS BACON 

is " the child of folly," since " it is impossible to love and be 
wise. 1 ' We might guess that if he should try his hand at 
poetry, he could not put his heart into it, and so it was ; such 
verse as he did attempt lacked the spirit and feeling of poetry, 
and added nothing to his literary reputation. The strongest 
argument against the theory that Bacon wrote the plays known 
as Shakespeare's is that in all we positively know of the life 
and works of the one writer there is none of the emotional 
depth and power that constitute the chief and peculiar charm 
of the other. 

His Power of Will. — Like most men who have influenced 
the world, Bacon had an unswerving will, which he kept at 
the service of his intellect. In the face of long-continued 
failure he slowly pushed his way upward to a place of great 
power and distinction, only to fall at last through his lack of 
moral integrity. Had he chosen to enlist all his powers from 
the start in the pursuit of the one purpose he felt himself in- 
tended to accomplish, instead of yielding to the allurements 
of political ambition under the self-persuasion that a position 
of influence was essential to the attainment of that higher 
end, he would have been spared much of the disappointment 
that clouded the closing years of his life, and the world would 
no doubt have been the gainer. 

BacorCs Influence upon the Advancement of Science 

Current Methods in Philosophy and Science. — The philoso- 
phy in vogue at Cambridge was condemned by Bacon because 
of its inability to promote what he termed the " Kingdom of 
Man over Nature. 11 This philosophy had advanced but little 
beyond that of the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages. The 
system of logic taught in the universities was substantially 
that of Aristotle^ Organon, or Analytic. It dealt merely with 
the forms of the reasoning process. It analyzed the modes 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

of deducing inferences from related propositions that were 
assumed to be true for the purposes of the argument ; but it 
offered no effective method of establishing the truth of the 
propositions analyzed. That is, the Aristotelian logic was 
well developed on the deductive, but was very imperfect on 
the inductive side. Hence, it was of little use as an instru- 
ment for the discovery of the laws of Nature. According to 
Bacon, the inductive method as applied to science in his day 
was merely " induction by simple enumeration " ; that is, the 
formation of general conclusions upon the basis of a few ob- 
served instances or particulars. While some notable scientific 
discoveries were being made by independent investigators, the 
physical sciences, where studied at all, were largely speculative 
in character. Most people, unaware or careless of the wonder- 
ful complexity of Nature, regarded these sciences as tolerably 
complete, and so did not feel the need of a more perfect 
method of scientific investigation. As a consequence, pro- 
gress in the application of scientific principles to practical life 
and industry, and in the deduction of useful inventions, was 
still left chiefly to accident. 

Bacon's "New Instrument. 1 ' — Bacon labored to perfect a 
" new instrument " for the study of Nature, a method which he 
has described, so far as he completed it, in his Novum Or- 
ganum. He proposed the substitution of observation and 
experiment for vague speculation. He would form his sci- 
entific hypotheses only after a wide and careful search, by 
means of observation aided by numerous experiments, for 
" instances " of the phenomenon or law under investigation. 
He would set down in orderly tables the affirmative instances, 
or those in which heat, for example, was present ; the negative 
instances, or those in which it might be expected, but did not 
occur; and the comparative instances, or those wherein it was 
found in greater or lesser degree, according to the variation 
of some other circumstance. From the study of these tables 



xxiv FRANCIS BACON 

a "first vintage," or hypothesis, might be inferred; and this 
was to be tested by numerous " helps of the understanding to 
a true induction," most of which he did not live to complete. 

f Bacon's ultimate aim was to put into man's hand the keys to 
the kingdom of Nature. He believed that the method he ad- 
vocated would speedily reveal the yet undiscovered secrets of 
Nature, and work a wonderful transformation in human life. 
Science has, indeed, wrought a great change in the world since 
Bacon's time ; but it is still a disputed question as to how 
much credit for that change his work deserves. 

His Influence. — To regard Bacon as the creator of the 
experimental method, or as the originator of modern science, 
would be to exaggerate his influence. But he was the first 
to coordinate and organize into a systematic doctrine all the 
elements of the inductive method, and to elucidate its applica- 
tion to the study and interpretation of the phenomena of 
Nature. He it was who first insisted upon the necessity of 
verifying inductive conclusions by a more critical and authori- 
tative appeal to experiment. He stood at the parting of the 
ways between mediaeval and modern science and philosophy, 
and labored for a future for the human family that should be 
greater and happier than the past. Beyond all question he is 
entitled to high respect as a great thinker, who looked far 
ahead of his own age, and who has been no small power in 
the progress of later times. 



Bacon as a Writer 

His Rank. — Bacon's name has a place in the history of 
letters as well as in that of philosophy. By his contemporaries 
he was recognized as belonging to the first rank as a writer, 
and in the judgment of succeeding generations he holds a 
place with. the greatest figures of England's greatest era of 
letters, Shakespeare and Spenser. Though it is in the Novum 



INTRODUCTION xxv 

Organum and the Advancement of Learning that he has ex- 
erted his greatest influence, it is the Essays that have been 
most widely read, and by them his readers have known him 
best. 

The Word Essay. — The word essay is radically the same 
as assay ; but modern usage has appropriated the latter form to 
metallurgy, and applies the former to a species of literature. In 
Bacon's time this distinction had not been made. The word, 
which came into England from the French, meant a trial or 
attempt ; hence its application to a kind of literary composi- 
tion, the aim of which was to present a short and informal, 
rather than a methodical and finished, study of a particular 
subject. In a dedication written for the edition of 1612 
Bacon says, " The word essay is late, but the thing is ancient. 
For Seneca's Epistles to Lucilius, if one mark them well, are 
but essays, that is, dispersed meditations." But however 
ancient the origin of essay writing, there is no doubt that 
Bacon's work in this direction was influenced in some meas- 
ure by the example of the first great modern essayist, Michel 
de Montaigne. 

Montaigne's Essays. — Montaigne published the first two 
books of his Essays in 1580, at Bourdeaux. Bacon knew 
Montaigne not only as the great French essayist, but also as 
the friend of his elder brother Anthony. Between 1579 and 
1592 this brother was traveling about the continent, and 
some two years after the first publication of Montaigne's 
Essays he became acquainted with their author. No doubt 
one result of this acquaintance was that the French essays were 
early brought to the attention of Francis Bacon ; and they 
may have suggested to him the idea of noting down his ob- 
servations and reflections after his own more direct and con- 
cise manner ; in consequence of which he became the first of 
an almost unbroken succession of English essayists. 

The Early Editions of Bacon's Essays. — The first edition 



xxvi FRANCIS BACON 

of Bacorfs Essays was published in 1597, and comprised the 
following titles : i. Of Studies ; ii. Of Discourse ; iii. Of Cere- 
monies and Respects ; iv. Of Followers and Friends ; v. Of 
Suitors ; vi. Of Expense ; vii. Of Regimen of Health ; viii. Of 
Honor and Reputation ; ix. Of Faction ; x. Of Negotiating. 

In 1 612 appeared a second and enlarged edition of forty 
essays. In the dedication the author refers to them as " cer- 
tain brief notes set down rather significantly than curiously," 
that is, more for their meaning than their style ; and says that 
he has endeavored to make them " not vulgar, but of a nature 
whereof a man shall find much in experience, and little in 
books." 

The final edition was published in 1625, and contained 
fifty-eight essays. In the dedication to the Duke of Bucking- 
ham the author writes : " I do now publish my Essays, which, 
of all my works, have been most current, for that, as it seems, 
they come home to men's business and bosoms. I have en- 
larged them both in number and weight, so that they are in- 
deed a new work. ... I do conceive that the Latin volume 
of them, being in the universal language, may last as long 
as books last. 11 

Bacon, like most of the English scholars under the influ- 
ence of the current devotion to the classical languages, re- 
garded his native tongue as unstable as well as unscholarly, and 
predicted that it would sometime " play the bankrupt with 
books " written in it. Hence he had not only the Essays, but 
all his principal works, translated into Latin, that they might 
not be lost to posterity. 

The Wisdom of the Essays. — The practical wisdom of 
Bacon reveals itself in every sentence of the Essays. One 
authority, Saintsbury, declares that since Socrates there has 
been no other writer so intellectually dynamic and stimulative 
as Bacon. Archbishop Whately writes : " When a man 
comes to reflect and observe, and his faculties enlarge, he sees 



INTRODUCTION xxvii 

more in the Essays than he did at first, and still more as he 
advances further, his admiration of Bacon's profundity in- 
creasing as he himself grows intellectually. 11 The eminent 
Scotch philosopher, Dugald Stewart, bears like testimony, 
which is confirmed by the judgment of every earnest student 
of the Essays : " After the twentieth perusal one seldom fails 
to remark in them something overlooked before. 11 

The Method of the Essays. — Bacon was a lifelong col- 
lector of adages and pithy sayings ; the maxims of " prover- 
bial philosophy " appealed to his practical nature. It is usually 
from such brief pregnant sentences or axioms that he develops 
his subjects in the Essays, weighing and balancing each side 
of the question, to determine its moral and practical status. 
His scientific spirit shows itself in this recognition of both 
the " pros and cons, 11 in his avoidance of the error of over- 
looking or ignoring every view of the subject except the par- 
ticular view he favors. The resulting impression is that of 
judicial fairness, although at times this appearance of candor 
is only a disguise for real partisanship of opinion. Insight 
into his method of developing a subject is afforded by his 
remarks prefatory to his collection of Antithesis of Things, 
toward the close of the sixth book of the Advancement of 
Learning: 

" I would have all topics which there is frequent occasion to 
handle studied and prepared beforehand ; and not only so, 
but the case exaggerated both ways with the utmost force of 
the wit, and urged unfairly, as it were, and quite beyond the 
truth. And the best way of making such a collection, with a 
view to use as well as brevity, would be to contract these 
commonplaces into certain acute and concise sentences to be 
as skeins or bottoms of thread which may be unwinded at 
large when they are wanted. 11 In studying the Essays it is 
interesting to notice how Bacon " unwinds " these threads of 
thought which, as they lie on opposite sides of the " skein, 1 ' 



xxviii FRANCIS BACON 

se.em to run in contrary directions, and, straightening them 
out so that they no longer pursue opposite courses, re-winds 
them into a compact sphere of conclusions. It is an excellent 
practice for the student to reverse this process by analyzing out 
and setting down in parallel columns the antithetical proposi- 
tions from which the essay is developed. He may then profit- 
ably compare these propositions with Bacon's Antitheses cited 
above, many of which are concerned with the same subjects 
that are treated in the Essays. 

Their Subject-matter. — The Essays deal with the practical 
art or conduct of life, their subtitle, Counsels Givil and Moral, 
well conveying the nature of their content. Many of the 
essays are essentially the self-counsels of a keenly observant, 
ambitious man who would possess himself of the surest and 
most direct means of worldly success. In them their author 
has much to say about "business," the carrying on of the affairs 
of private and civil life ; and his practical counsels contain 
much worldly wisdom such as that found in the utterances of a 
later writer, Benjamin Franklin. His shrewd insight into the 
minutiae of practical conduct and affairs is remarkable, though 
of the merely local and particular he says little or nothing. 
No less striking is the breadth of his interest and thought. 
Many of his themes are far-reaching and lofty in scope and dig- 
nity, such as the duties of rulers, the policy of empire, and the 
true greatness of kingdoms. Some are of universal and profound 
ethical interest, dealing with the immutable principles govern- 
ing human life and action, the essential nature of truth, good- 
ness, adversity, and the like. They recognize that " goodness, 
of all virtues and dignities of the mind, is the greatest " ; but 
they also recognize that in the present state of the world virtue 
cannot find full exercise. Hence Bacon, in personal conduct, 
like Machiavelli in political, sometimes stoops to counsel the 
use of what is expedient when he thinks what is simply honest 
will not avail. The practical man, he argues, cannot succeed 



INTRODUCTION xxix 

except by studying, and taking advantage of, the weaknesses of 
human nature. He recognizes clearly enough the low standard 
of morality involved in such a policy, but regards such a stand- 
ard as necessary to the art of getting on in life under its ex- 
isting conditions. The student of Bacon's Essays should be 
clearly aware of this weakness in Bacon's practical ethics, and 
not be misled by the authority of a great intellect that was not 
always quite true to its possessor's higher moral nature. 

Nevertheless, the Essays are replete with the garnered wis- 
dom of philosophers and sages ; they contain many good and 
true thoughts ; they reveal the inner workings of one of the 
greatest minds ; (and by stimulating the earnest reader's own 
powers of thought and reflection they will amply repay his 
closest study. 

Bacon's Literary Style. — The characteristics of Bacon's 
style are such as one might expect from his practical aims ; his 
language is for use rather than ornament. His chief concern 
is to express his thought with clearness and in as few words 
as possible. His sentences are short, pointed, incisive, and 
often of balanced structure. Many of them have the force of 
epigrams and maxims. Directness, terseness, and forcefulness 
are Bacon's most prominent qualities of style. His manner is 
energetic and abrupt rather than fluent and graceful. He 
makes frequent use of figurative language, but not so much for 
beauty of expression as for clearness of thought. In distinction 
from that of his Essays, the style of his philosophical works is 
elaborate and ornamental. 

Occasional Obscurity in the Essays. — In spite of the gen- 
eral clearness of the Essays, the student will find occasional 
passages that seem somewhat difficult to understand. This 
apparent obscurity is due to several causes. One of these is 
the brevity and compression of the expression. Let the stu- 
dent test this by trying to condense some of the essays. This 
terseness sometimes leads to the omission of connective and 



xxx FRANCIS BACON 

transition elements that the reader's own intelligence must 
supply from the context. The student will do well occasionally 
to amplify one of the essays by writing out in full all the im- 
plicit connective phrases to show the dependence of each 
thought upon those contiguous. 

Again, the order of thoughts is not always due to a careful, 
logical organization. It is a good exercise sometimes to re- 
arrange the sentences in logical order as well as to supply con- 
nective elements. Looseness of grammatical construction, 
particularly the ambiguous use of pronouns, presents occa- 
sional difficulties of interpretation. Another source of diffi- 
culty in the understanding of the Essays is Bacon's .abundant 
use of allusions and quotations, especially from classical au- 
thors, as Tacitus, Ovid, Virgil, and Plutarch. This is a 
characteristic of many Elizabethan writers, and renders a com- 
mentary necessary for their study. The notes that follow the 
Essays in this volume will afford much of the required help. 

But the chief cause of obscurity in the Essays is the fact 
that they contain many words of Latin derivation employed in 
their Latin sense, which has in most cases become obsolete. 
For example, the word officious is used by Bacon in the sense 
of able to serve ; not until after the middle of the eighteenth 
century did it acquire its present meaning of offensively anxious 
to assume official authority. In the essay Of Envy the word 
curious is used in the sense of careful about details (Lat. cura, 
care) ; and the word derive is employed in its Latin meaning 
of to drain off, from de, from, and rivus, a stream. Again, in 
the same essay, we find plausible meaning worthy of applause, 
its original Latin significance. For a helpful discussion of 
Elizabethan English the student may consult the Introduction 
to Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar. 

The Study of the Essays. — Bacon's Essays cannot be 
read as one might read the Essays of Elia, for example. The 
mind must be held closely to every detail of the thought. The 



INTRODUCTION xxxi 

meaning of each sentence must be kept in mind as each suc- 
cessive sentence is interpreted, and the relationship between 
the thoughts carefully observed. Frequently it will be neces- 
sary for the student to dwell deliberately upon each phrase or 
even word, in order completely to grasp the meaning intended, 
so full is the thought and so compact the form of expression. 
Often sentences somewhat distantly separated have close 
and fine relationships and correspondences ; the interpreta- 
tion of each thought should be tested by constant reference 
to the context. Every essay studied should be carefully ana- 
lyzed, and a complete topical outline of it should be made. In 
doing this the student will discover that Bacon's paragraphs 
are often loosely constructed, — not always logical in thought 
and arrangement, and sometimes lacking in unity, although 
this lack is as a rule only apparent, being due at times to 
the compressed style of the expression. In studying the 
Essays the student should keep before him two main objects : 
to acquire a complete grasp of the thought, and to use the 
thought to interpret the character and personality of the 
author. 

Changes in the Essays. — The first version of the essay 
Of Discourse is printed with the notes on that essay to enable 
the student to note the general character of the changes made 
in the Essays between the first edition (1597) and the final 
edition (1625), from which the selections in this volume are 
taken. This early version also indicates the character of the 
spelling of English words that prevailed in Bacon's time, al- 
though far less uniformity was observed in this matter than 
now prevails. In this volume Bacon's spelling has been 
modernized, except in the case of a few words, the older form 
of which presents enough interest to call for comment in the 
notes. The paragraphing and punctuation have also been 
brought into conformity with present usage. 



REFERENCE BOOKS 

A FEW of the more easily accessible books of value to students of 
Bacon's Essays are listed below. These books should be kept in a sec- 
tion of the bookcase by themselves, and reserved tor the use of the stu- 
dents of the Essays. Students should be encouraged to use these books, 
and be required to look up and report upon assigned topics treated in 
them. 

Abbott, Edwin A. A Shakespearian Grammar. Indispensable to a 
study of Bacon's English. 
Francis Bacon : An Account of His Life and Works. The best short 
account of the subject. 
ARBER, Edward. A Harmony of the Essays. A "parallel column" 
comparison of the different versions of the Essays, together with 
the Latin translation. Contains a valuable introduction, includ- 
ing the first Life of Bacon, that by Dr. Rawley. 
BACON, F. Works, edited by James Spedding, Robert Ellis, and Doug- 
las Heath. This is the standard edition of Bacon's complete 
works, and should be accessible to students of the Essays. 
Bacon's Essays. Editions by E- A. Abbott, F. G. Selby, Aldis Wright, 

Henry Morley. 
Bacon's Novum Organum, and Advancement of Learning, in Bohn's 

Philosophical Library. 
Bible. Authorized Version. 
BOAS, MRS. F. Shakespeare' s England. 
BREWER, E. C. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 
Church, R. W. Francis Bacon (English Men of Letters). Clear, 

concise account. 
Dictionary. Webster's International. Standard. Century. Skeat's. 
EINSTEIN, Lewis. The Italian Renaissance in England. An interest- 
ing and invaluable aid in developing the " social background " of 
the Essays. 
EMERSON, O. F. A Brief History of the English Language. A con- 
venient help for the teacher, but not the sort of book that students 
readily use. 
Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth edition, 
xxxii 



REFERENCE BOOKS xxxiii 

Fischer, Kuno. Francis of Verulam. A scholarly estimate of Bacon 
as a philosopher. Translated from the German. 

Fowler, T. Francis Bacon. 

GAYLEY, C. M. Classic Myths. 

GOADBY, EDWIN. The England of Shakespeare. 

Green, J. R. Short History of the English People. 

Harper s Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities. 

HUTTON, L. Literary Landmarks of London. 

Lee, Sidney. Great Englishmen of the Sixteenth Century. An excel- 
lent concise account of Bacon. 

LEWES, G. H. Biographical History of Philosophy. 

LEWIS, C. T. Francis Bacon. In the Warner Classics; Studies of 
Great Authors, Vol. I (Philosophers and Scientists). This is a 
very favorable view of Bacon. 

Lippincott's Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary. 

LORD, JOHN. Beacon Lights of History, Vol. Ill (ch. xxxv). 

LOUNSBURY, T. R. History of the English Language. 

Macaulay, T. B. Essays on Bacon, and Machiavelli. Both these 
essays are of much value to the student of Bacon. 

Machiavelli, N. Discourses on Livy. 
The Prince. 

MlNTO, W. Manual of English Prose Literature. Contains an analy- 
sis of Bacon's style. 

Montaigne, Michel de. Essays. Translated by Charles Cotton, 
and edited by W. C. Hazlitt. A comparison of Montaigne's 
diffusive style with Bacon's compact style would be worth making. 
Students might with profit read, or hear read, one or more essays 
of Montaigne. 

MORLEY. English Writers. 

Morris, George S. British Thought and Thinkers. 

NASMITH, D. Makers of Modem Thought. Short accounts of Machia- 
velli, Montaigne, Bacon. Not of great value to students of Bacon. 

NlCHOL, J. Francis Bacon : his Life and Philosophy. 

Ordish, T. F. Shakespeare's London. 

Plato. Dialogues. Translated by Henry Davis. Bohn Library. 

Plutarch's Lives. 

Remusat, de, Charles. Bacon; sa vie, son temps, sa philosophic, 
et son influence jusqu'a nos jours. 

Shakespeare' s Works. 

SAINTSBURY, G. A Short History of English Literature. 



XXXIV 



CHRONOLOGY 



SKEAT, W. W. Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 

This book should be consulted daily by students of the Essays. 
SMITH, WILLIAM. Classical Dictionary. Dictionary of Greek and 

Roinan Antiquities. 
Spedding, James. Letters and Life of Francis Bacon. 
SYMONDS, J. A. Francis Bacon. (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) 
TAINE, H. A. History of English Literature. 
WARNER, C. D. People for Whom Shakespeare Wrote. 
WHIPPLE, E. P. Literature of the Age of Elizabeth. 
WINTER, W. Shakespeare 's England. 



CHRONOLOGY 



1558. Elizabeth becomes queen. 

1561. Francis Bacon born, January 22. 

1563. Dissolution of the Council of Trent. 

1566. Revolt of the Netherlands. 

1570. Excommunication of Elizabeth. 

1 571. Defeat of the Turks near Lepanto. 

1572. Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 

1573. Bacon enters Cambridge. 
1576—78. Visits France with Sir Amyas Paulet. 

1579. Death of Sir Nicholas Bacon. 

1582. Francis Bacon admitted as " Utter Barrister." 

1584. Represents Melcombe Regis in the House of Commons. 

1584. Assassination of William of Orange. 

1585. Bacon probably writes The Greatest Birth of Time. 

1587. Mary Stuart executed. 

1588. The Spanish Armada destroyed. 

1588. Death of Leicester. 

1589. Earl of Essex becomes the Queen's favorite. 

1593. Bacon opposes the Queen's subsidy measure and loses 
her favor. 

1593-95. He tries in vain to secure the office of Attorney, and 
that of Solicitor-General. 

1595. Tyrone's Rebellion. 



CHRONOLOGY xxxv 

1595. Essex presents Bacon with an estate. 

1597. First edition of the Essays. 

1598. Essex quarrels with the Queen. 
1598. Edict of Nantes. 

1598. Death of Bacon's uncle, Lord Burleigh. 

1599. Victory of Tyrone in Ireland. 

1599. Essex is sent to put down the Irish rebellion. 

1599. He makes truce with Tyrone and returns to England. 

1600. He is imprisoned, but soon released. 

1601. His rising against the government; trial and execution. 
1 601. Bacon writes an account of the Practices and Treasons 

attempted and committed by Robert, the late Earl of 
Essex and his Complices. 

1601. Francis Bacon's brother Anthony dies. 

1602. Death of Queen Elizabeth. 

1603. James I becomes king. 

1603. Bacon writes the first book of the Advancement of 
Learning. 

1603. Bacon becomes Sir Francis Bacon. 

1604. Bacon appointed member of the King's Learned Counsel. 

1605. Advancement of Learning published. 

1605. Gunpowder plot. 

1606. Bacon marries Alice Barnham. 

1607. He becomes Solicitor-General. 
1607. The Virginia colony founded. 
1610. Invention of the thermometer. 

1610. Death of Bacon's mother. 

161 1 . Authorized, or " King James," Version of the Bible pub- 

lished. 

161 2. First English settlement in India. 

1613. Bacon becomes Attorney-General. 

1 61 3. The Romanoff dynasty founded in Russia. 

1614. Logarithms invented by Napier. 

1614. Prosecution and torture of Peacham (before Bacon). 

1614. The " Addled Parliament." 

1 61 6. Bacon receives appointment as Privy Councilor. 



xxxvi CHRONOLOGY 

1617. Bacon becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. 

1 61 8. Bacon made Lord Chancellor. 
1618. Beginning of the Thirty Years' War. 

1 6 18. Bacon becomes Baron Verulam of Verulam. 

1618. Sir Walter Raleigh executed. 

1620. Publication of the Novum Organum. 

1620. Bacon made Viscount St. Alban. 

1620. He is charged with bribery. 

1621. Transmits his " confession and humble submission " to 

Parliament. 

1621. Is imprisoned in the Tower, but soon released. 

1 62 1. Bacon retires to Gorhambury. 

1 62 1. Publishes his History of Henry VII. 

1624. New Atlantis probably written. 

1625. Final edition of the Essays. 

1626. Death of Francis Bacon, April 9. 



LEADING ENGLISH WRITERS CONTEMPORARY WITH 
BACON 

15 1 5-1568. Roger Ascham. 

1584-1616. Francis Beaumont. 

1577-1640. Robert Burton. 

1 5 59-1 634. George Chapman. 

1 520-1 604. Thomas Churchyard. 

1562-1619. Samuel Daniel. 

1573-1631. John Donne. 

1 588- 1 623. Giles Fletcher. 

1555- 1624. Stephen Gosson. 

1560-1592. Robert Greene. 

1552-1616. Richard Hakluyt. 

1 545-1 630. Gabriel Harvey. 

1 593-1 633. George Herbert. 

?-i650. Thomas Heywood. 

1554-1600. Richard Hooker. 

1558-1625. Thomas Lodge. 

1554-1606. John Lyly. 

1564-1593. Christopher Marlowe. 

1575-1634. John Marston. 

1 583-1 640. Philip Massinger. 

1570-1627. Thomas Middleton. 

1 530-161 1. Richard Mulcaster. 

1567-1601. Thomas Nash. 

1558— 1597. George Peele. 

1552-1618. Sir Walter Raleigh. 

1 585-1 642. William Rowley. 

1536-1608. Thomas Sackville. 

1 564-1 6 1 6. William Shakespeare. 

1 5 54- 1 5 86. Sir Philip Sidney. 

1552-1599. Edmund Spenser. 

1593-1683. Izaak Walton. 



ESSAYS 

OR COUNSELS CIVIL AND MORAL 

I. OF TRUTH 

"What is truth?" said jesting Pilate; and would not 
stay for an answer. Certainly there be that delight in 
giddiness,' and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affect- 
ing • free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though 
the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there 
remain certain discoursing wits* which are of the same 
veins,* though there be not so much blood in them as 
was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the diffi- 
culty and labor which men take in finding out of truth ; 
nor again that, when it is found, it imposeth upon men's 
thoughts, that doth bring lies in° favor; but a natural 
though corrupt love of the lie itself. One° of the later 
school of the Grecians examineth the matter, and is at 
a stand to think what should be in it, that men should 
love lies, where neither they make for pleasure, as with 
poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant, but for 
the lie's sake. But I cannot tell : this same truth is a 
naked and open daylight, that doth not show the masks, 
and mummeries, and triumphs of the world half so stately 
and daintily as candle-lights. Truth may perhaps come 

Reference Marks : ° = See Notes ; • = See Glossary. Numerals 

refer to footnotes. 

I 



2 BACON'S ESSAYS [i 

to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day ; but it 
will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that 
showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie° doth 
ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt that, if there 
were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering 
hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and 
the like, but it would leave the minds of a number of men 
poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, 
and unpleasing to themselves? One of the Fathers, in 
great severity, called poesy vinum damonum} because 
it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow 
of a lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the 
mind, but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that 
doth the hurt, such as we spake of before. But howso- 
ever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments 
and affections,* yet truth, which only doth judge itself, 
teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love- 
making, or wooing of it ; the knowledge of truth, which 
is the presence of it ; and the belief of truth, which is the 
enjoying of it; is the sovereign good of human nature. 
The first creature ' of God, in the works of the days, was 
the light of the sense ; the last was the light of reason ; 
and His Sabbath work ever since is the illumination of 
His Spirit. First He breathed light upon the face of the 
matter, or chaos ; then He breathed light into the face of 
man ; and still • He breatheth and inspireth light into the 
face of His chosen. The poet° that beautified the sect 
that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently 
well : " It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to 
see ships tossed upon the sea ; a pleasure to stand in the 
1 The wine of demons. [See note.] 



I] OF TRUTH 3 

window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures 
thereof, below : but no pleasure is comparable to the stand- 
ing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be 
commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), 
and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and 
tempests, in the vale below : " so always, that this prospect 
be with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly, 
it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in 
charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of 
truth. 

To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the 
truth of civil ' business ; it will be acknowledged, even by 
those that practise it not, that clear and round* dealing 
is the honor of man's nature ; and that mixture of false- 
hood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may 
make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For 
these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the 
serpent, which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon 
the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with 
shame as to be found false and perfidious. And there- 
fore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the 
reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, 
and such an odious charge — saith he, "If it be well 
weighed, to say that a man lieth is as much as to say that 
he is brave towards God and a coward towards men. 
For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man." Surely 
the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot 
possibly be so highly expressed as in that it shall be the 
last peal to call the judgments of God upon the genera- 
tions of men : it being foretold that when Christ cometh 
" He shall not find faith upon the earth.". 



4 BACON'S ESSAYS [n 

II. OF DEATH 

Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark ; 
and as that natural fear in children is increased with 
tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of 
death, as the wages of sin, and' passage to another world, 
is holy and religious ; but the fear of it, as a tribute due 
unto nature, is weak. Yet in religious meditations there 
is sometimes mixture of vanity and of superstition. You 
shall read in some of the friars' books of mortification* 
that a man should think with himself what the pain is if 
he have but his finger's end pressed or tortured, and 
thereby imagine what the pains of death are, when the 
whole body is corrupted and dissolved ; when many times 
death passeth with less pain than the torture of a limb, 
for the most vital parts are not the quickest of sense. 
And by him that spake only as a philosopher and natural 
man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis ferret quant 
mors ipsa} Groans, and convulsions, and a discolored 
face, and friends weeping, and blacks,* and obsequies, 
and the like, show death terrible. It is worthy the 
observing, that there is no passion in the mind of man so 
weak, but it mates ° and masters the fear of death ; and 
therefore death is no such terrible enemy, when a man 
hath so many attendants about him that can win the 
combat of him. Revenge triumphs over death; love 
slights it ; honor aspireth to it ; grief flieth to it ; fear 
preoccupateth* it : nay, we read, after Otho ° the emperor 
had slain himself, pity, which is the tenderest of affec- 

i The parade of death terrifies more than death itself. 

— Seneca, Epistle iii. 



ii] OF DEATH 5 

tions,* provoked many to die, out of mere compassion 
to their sovereign, and as the truest sort of followers. 
Nay, Seneca adds niceness * and satiety : Cogita quamdiu 
eadem feceris ; mori velle, non tantum /or/is, aut miser, 
sed etiam fastidiosus potest} A man would die, though 
he were neither valiant nor miserable, only upon a weari- 
ness to do the same thing so oft over and over. It is 
no less worthy to observe, how little alteration in good 
spirits the approaches of death make ; for they ° appear to 
be the same men till the last instant. Augustus Caesar 
died in a compliment : Livia, conjugii nostri mentor 
vive, et vale? Tiberius in dissimulation ; as Tacitus 
saith of him, Jam Tiberium vires et corpus, non dis- 
simulatio, deserebant? Vespasian in a jest, sitting upon 
the stool : Utputo, Deus fio. K Galba with a sentence : 
Feri, si ex re sit popnli Romani' holding forth his neck. 
Septimius Severus in dispatch : Adeste,si quid mihi res tat 
agendum ; 6 and the like. 

Certainly the Stoics bestowed too much cost upon 
death, and by their great preparations made it appear 
more fearful. Better saith he, Qui finem vitce extremum 
inter munera ponat natural It is as natural to die as to 

1 Think how long you have been doing the same things ; the desire 
to die may be felt not by the brave alone, or the wretched, but also by 
the fastidious. 

2 Livia, remember well our wedded life, and farewell. 

3 Tiberius was now losing his strength and vitality, but not his dis- 
simulation. 

4 I suppose that I am becoming a god. 

5 Strike if it be for the good of the people of Rome. 

6 Hasten, if anything remains for me to do. 

7 Who reckons the last end of life among the blessings of Nature. 

— Juvenal, Satire x. 358. 



6 BACON'S ESSAYS [ill 

be born ; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as 
painful as the other. He that dies in an earnest pursuit 
is like one that is wounded in hot blood, who, for the 
time, scarce feels the hurt ; and therefore a mind fixed 
and bent upon somewhat that k good doth avert the 
dolors of death. But above all, believe it, the sweetest 
canticle is, Nunc dimittis, 1 when a man hath obtained 
worthy ends and expectations. Death hath this also ; 
that it openeth the gate to good fame, and extinguisheth 
envy°. 

— Extincttis amabitur idem? 



III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION 

Religion being the chief band of human society, it is a 
happy thing when itself is well contained within the true 
band of unity. The quarrels and divisions about religion 
were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, be- 
cause the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites 
and ceremonies than in any constant belief. For you may 
imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief 
doctors • and fathers of their church were the poets. But 
the true God hath this attribute, that he is a jealous God ; 
and therefore his worship and religion will endure no mix- 
ture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words 
concerning the unity of the Church ; what are the fruits 
thereof, what the bounds, and what the means. 

1 Now dismiss us. 

2 Let him die, to-morrow you will love him. 

— Horace, Epistles ii. i. 14. 



in] OF UNITY IN RELIGION 



The fruits of unity, next unto the well-pleasing of God, 
which is all in all, are two ; the one towards those that are 
without the Church, the other towards those that are 
within. For the former, it is certain that heresies and 
schisms are of all others the greatest scandals ; yea, more 
than corruption of manners. For as in the natural body, a 
wound, or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt 
humor, so in the spiritual. So that nothing doth so 
much keep men out of the Church, and drive men out of 
the Church, as breach of unity ; and therefore whensoever 
it cometh to that pass that one saith, Ecce in deserto ; x 
another saith, Ecce in penetralibus ; 2 that is, when some 
men seek Christ in the conventicles of heretics, and 
others in an outward face of a church, that voice had 
need continually to sound in men's ears, Nolite exire, go 
not out. The doctor of the Gentiles, the propriety .of 
whose vocation drew him to have a special care of those 
without, saith, " If an heathen come in, and hear you 
speak with several tongues, will he not say that you are 
mad?" and certainly it is little better: when atheists and 
profane persons do hear of so many discordant and con- 
trary opinions in religion, it doth avert them from the 
Church, and maketh them " to sit down in the chair of the 
scorners." It is but a light thing to be vouched in so 
serious a matter, but yet it expresseth well the deformity. 
There is a master of scoffing, that in his catalogue of 
books of a feigned library sets down this title of a book, 
" The Morris-dance of Heretics" ; for indeed every sect 
of them hath a diverse posture or cringe by themselves, 

1 Behold, he is in the desert. — Matt. xxiv. 26. 

2 Behold, he is in the secret chambers. 



8 BACON'S ESSAYS [m 

which cannot but move derision in worldlings and de- 
praved politics/ who are apt to contemn holy things. 

As for the fruit towards those that are within, it is 
peace, which containeth infinite blessings ; it establisheth 
faith; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the 
Church distilleth into peace of conscience, and it turneth 
the labors of writing and reading of controversies into 
treatises of mortification and devotion. 

Concerning the bounds of unity, the true placing of 
them importeth exceedingly. There appear to be two 
extremes. For to certain zealots all speech of pacifica- 
tion is odious. " Is it peace, Jehu?" " What hast thou 
to do with peace? turn thee behind me." Peace is not 
the matter, but following and party. Contrariwise, cer- 
tain Laodiceans and lukewarm persons think they may 
accommodate points of religion by middle ways, and 
taking part of both, and witty reconcilements, as if they 
would make an arbitrement between God and man. 
Both these extremes are to be avoided ; which will be 
done if the league of Christians, penned by our Savior 
himself, were in the two cross clauses thereof soundly 
and plainly expounded : " He that is not with us is against 
us " ; and again, " He that is not against us is with us " ; 
that is, if the points fundamental and of substance in 
religion were truly discerned and distinguished from 
points not merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good 
intention. This is a thing may seem to many a matter 
trivial, and done already ; but if it were done less par- 
tially, it would be embraced more generally. 

Of this I may give only this advice, according to my 
small model. Men ought to take heed of rending God's 



in] OF UNITY IN RELIGION 9 

Church by two kinds of controversies. The one is, when 
the matter of the point controverted is too small and light, 
not worth the heat and strife about it, kindled only by 
contradiction. For, as it is noted by one of the Fathers, 
" Christ's coat indeed had no seam ; but the Church's 
vesture was of divers colors " : whereupon he saith, In 
veste varietas sit, scissura non sit; 1 they be two things, 
unity and uniformity. The other is, when the matter of 
the point controverted is great, but it is driven to an over- 
great subtilty and obscurity, so that it becometh a thing 
rather ingenious than substantial. A man that is of judg- 
ment and understanding shall sometimes hear ignorant 
men differ, and know well within himself that those which 
so differ mean one thing, and yet they themselves would 
never agree. And if it come so to pass in that distance 
of judgment which is between man and man, shall we not 
think that God above, that knows the heart, doth not dis- 
cern that frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend 
the same thing, and accepteth of both? The nature of 
such controversies is excellently expressed by St. Paul, in 
the warning and precept that he giveth concerning the 
same : Devita profanas vocum novitates, et oppositiones 
falsi nominis scientice? Men create oppositions which 
are not, and put them into new terms so fixed as, whereas 
the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect 
governeth the meaning. 

There be also two false peaces or unities : the one, when 
the peace is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance ; 

1 In the garment there maybe divers colors, but let there be no rent. 
- Avoid profane novelties of terms and oppositions of science falsely 
so called. — Tim. vi. 20. 



IO BACON'S ESSAYS [in 

for all colors will agree in the dark : the other, when it is 
pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries in fun- 
damental points. For truth and falsehood in such things 
are like the iron and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's 
image — they may cleave, but they will not incorporate. 

Concerning the means of procuring unity, men must 
beware that in the procuring or muniting of religious 
unity, they do not dissolve and deface the laws of charity 
and of human society. There be two swords amongst 
Christians, the spiritual and temporal, and both have 
their due office and place in the maintenance of religion. 
But we may not take up the third sword, which is Mahom- 
et's sword, or like unto it : that is, to propagate religion 
by wars, or by sanguinary persecutions to force con- 
sciences ; except it be in cases of overt scandal, blasphemy, 
or intermixture of practice against the state : much less to 
nourish seditions, to authorize conspiracies and rebellions, 
to put the sword into the people's hands, and the like, 
tending to the subversion of all government, which is the 
ordinance of God. For this is but to dash the first table ° 
against the second ; and so to consider men as Christians 
as we forget that they are men. Lucretius the poet, when 
he beheld the act of Agamemnon, that could endure the 
sacrificing of his own daughter, exclaimed : 

Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum. 1 

What would he have said if he had known of the massa- 
cre in France, or the powder treason ° of England ? He 
would have been seven times more epicure and atheist 
than he was ; for as the temporal sword is to be drawn 

1 So great the evils to which religion could prompt. 



ill] OF UNITY IN RELIGION II 

with great circumspection in cases of religion, so it is a 
thing monstrous to put it into the hands of the common 
people. Let that be left unto the Anabaptists and other 
furies. It was great blasphemy when the devil said, " I 
will ascend, and be like the Highest" ; but it is a greater 
blasphemy to personate God, and bring Him in saying, 
" I will descend, and be like the prince of darkness." 
And what is it better to make the cause of religion to 
descend to the cruel and execrable actions of murdering 
princes, butchery of people, and subversion of states and 
governments? Surely this is to bring down the Holy 
Ghost, instead of the likeness of a dove, in the shape of 
a vulture or raven ; and to set, out of the bark of a Chris- 
tian Church, a flag of a bark of pirates and assassins. 
Therefore it is most necessary that the Church by doc- 
trine and decree, princes by their sword, and all learn- 
ings, both Christian and moral, as by their mercury rod,° 
dp damn and send to hell forever those facts and opinions 
tending to the support of the same ; as hath been already 
in good part done. Surely in councils concerning reli- 
gion, that counsel of the apostle would be prefixed, Ira 
hominis non implet justitiam Dei} And it was a notable 
observation of a wise father, and no less ingeniously con- 
fessed, that " those which held and persuaded pressure 
of consciences were commonly interested therein them- 
selves for their own ends." 

1 The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 

— James i. 20. 



12 BACON'S ESSAYS [iv 

IV. OF REVENGE 

Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more man's 
nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For 
as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but 
the revenge of that wrong putteth the law out of office. 
Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his 
enemy, but in passing it over he is superior ; for it is a 
prince's part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith,° 
" It is the glory of a man to pass by an offense." 

That which is past is gone and irrevocable, and wise 
men have enough to do with things present and to come. 
Therefore they do but trifle with themselves that labor in 
past matters. There is no man doth a wrong for the 
wrong's sake ° ; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or 
pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I 
be angry with a man for loving himself better than me ? 
And if any man should do wrong merely out of ill-nature, 
why, yet it is but like the thorn or brier, which prick or 
scratch because they can do no other. 

The most tolerable sort of revenge is for those wrongs 
which there is no law to remedy ; but then let a man take 
heed the revenge be such as there is no law to punish, 
else a man's enemy is still beforehand, and it is two for 
one.° 

Some, when they take revenge, are desirous the party 
should know whence it cometh. This is the more gen- 
erous, for the delight seemeth to be not so much in doing 
the hurt as in making the party repent. But base and 
crafty cowards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. 

Cosmus, Duke of Florence, had a desperate saying 



v] OF ADVERSITY 1 3 

against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs 
were unpardonable. " You shall read," saith he, " that 
we are commanded to forgive our enemies ; but you 
never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends." 
But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune. " Shall we," 
saith he, "take good at God's hands, and not be con- 
tent to take evil also?" And so of friends in a proportion. 
This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps 
his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and 
do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortu- 
nate ; as that for the death of Caesar ; for the death of 
Pertinax ; for the death of Henry III of France ; and 
many more. But in private revenges it is not so. Nay, 
rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches, who, as 
they are mischievous, so end they infortunate. 



V. OF ADVERSITY 

It was a high speech of Seneca, after the manner of 
the Stoics, that the good things which belong to pros- 
perity are to be wished, but the good things that belong 
to adversity are to be admired : Bona rerum secundarum 
optabilia, adversarum mirabilia. Certainly, if miracles 
be the command over nature, they appear most in adver- 
sity. It is yet a higher speech of his than the other (much 
too high for a heathen), " It is true greatness to have in 
one the frailty of a man and the security of a God" 
( Vere magnum, habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem 
Dei). This would have done better in poesy, where 
transcendencies are more allowed. And the poets, indeed, 



14 BACON'S ESSAYS [v 

have been busy with it ; for it is in effect the thing which 
is figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets, 
which seemeth not to be without mystery ; nay, and to 
have some approach to the state of a Christian : that 
Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus (by whom 
human nature is represented), sailed the length of the 
great ocean in an earthen pot or pitcher; lively de- 
scribing Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail bark 
of the flesh thorough* the waves of the world. 

But to speak in a mean,' the virtue of prosperity is 
temperance; the virtue of adversity is fortitude, which 
in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the 
blessing of the Old Testament, adversity is the blessing 
of the New ; which carrieth the greater benediction and 
the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet, even in the 
Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp you shall 
hear as many hearse-like airs as carols ; and the pencil 
of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the 
afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Pros- 
perity is not without many fears and distastes, and adver- 
sity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle- 
works and embroideries it is more pleasing to have a lively 
work upon a sad and solemn ground than to have a dark 
and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground. Judge, 
therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of 
the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fra- 
grant when they are incensed or crushed ; for prosperity 
doth best discover ■ vice, but adversity doth best discover 
virtue. 



vi] OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION 15 

VI. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION 

Dissimulation is but a faint kind of policy or wisdom ; 
for it asketh a strong wit* and a strong heart to know 
when to tell truth and to do it. Therefore it is the weaker 
sort, of politicians that are the great dissemblers. 

Tacitus saith Livia sorted* well with the arts of her 
husband and dissimulation of her son ; attributing arts or 
policy to Augustus, and dissimulation to Tiberius. And 
again, when Mucianus encourageth Vespasian to take 
arms against Vitellius, he saith, " We rise not against the 
piercing judgment of Augustus, nor the extreme caution 
or closeness of Tiberius." These properties of arts or 
policy, and dissimulation or closeness, are indeed habits 
and faculties several, and to be distinguished. For if a 
man have that penetration of judgment as* he can discern 
what things are to be laid open, and what to be secreted, 
and what to be showed at half-lights, and to whom and 
when (which, indeed, are arts of state and arts of life, as 
Tacitus well calleth them), to him a habit of dissimulation 
is a hindrance and a poorness. But if a man cannot 
obtain ■ to that judgment, then it is left to him generally 
to be close and a dissembler. For where a man cannot 
choose or vary in particulars, there it is good to take the 
safest and wariest way in general, like the going softly 
by one that cannot well see. Certainly the ablest men 
that ever were have had all an openness and frankness of 
dealing, and a name of certainty and veracity. But then 
they were like horses, well managed,* for they could tell 
passing* well when to stop or turn; and at such times, 
when they thought the case indeed required dissimula- 



16 BACON'S ESSAYS [vi 

tion, if then they used it, it came to pass that the former 
opinion spread abroad of their good faith and clearness 
of dealing made them almost invisible. 

There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a 
man's self. The first, closeness, reservation, and se- 
crecy, when a man leaveth himself without observation, 
or without hold to be taken, what he is. The second, 
dissimulation, in the negative, when a man lets fall signs 
and arguments that he is not that he is. And the third, 
simulation, in the affirmative, when a man industriously ' 
and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not. 

For the first of these, secrecy, it is indeed the virtue of 
a confessor ; and assuredly the secret man heareth many 
confessions, for who will open himself to a blab or a 
babbler? But if a man be thought secret it inviteth dis- 
covery, as the more close air sucketh in the more open. 
And as in confession, the revealing is not for worldly use, 
but for the ease of a man's heart, so secret men come 
to the knowledge of many things in that kind, while men 
rather discharge their minds than impart their minds. 
In few words, mysteries are due to secrecy. Besides, to 
say truth, nakedness is uncomely as well in mind as 
body; and it addeth no small reverence to men's manners 
and actions if they be not altogether open. As for talkers 
and futile* persons, they are commonly vain and credulous 
withal. For he that talketh what he knoweth will also 
talk what he knoweth not. Therefore set it down that a 
habit of secrecy is both politic and moral. And in this 
part it is good that a man's face give his tongue leave to 
speak. For the discovery of a man's self by the tracts • 
of his countenance is a great weakness and betraying, by 



vi] OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION 17 

how much it is many times more marked and believed 
than a man's words. 

For the second, which is dissimulation, it followeth 
many times upon secrecy, by a necessity ; so that he that 
will be secret must be a dissembler in some degree. 
For men are too cunning to suffer a man to keep an in- 
different* carriage between both, and to be secret, with- 
out swaying the balance on either side. They will so 
beset a man with questions, and draw him on, and pick 
it out of him, that, without an absurd silence, he must 
show an inclination one way ; or if he do not, they will 
gather as much by his silence as by his speech. As for 
equivocations, or oraculous speeches, they cannot hold 
out long. So that no man can be secret, except he give 
himself a little scope of dissimulation, which is, as it were, 
but the skirts or train of secrecy. 

But for the third degree, which is simulation and false 
profession, that I hold more culpable and less politic 
except it be in great and rare matters. And, therefore, 
a general custom of simulation, which is this last degree, 
is a vice rising either of a natural falseness or fearfulness, 
or of a mind that hath some main faults, which, because 
a man must needs disguise, it maketh him practice 
simulation in other things, lest his hand should be out of 
ure.* 

The great advantages of simulation and dissimulation 
are three. First, to lay asleep opposition, and to sur- 
prise ; for where a man's intentions are published, it is an 
alarum to call up all that are against them. The second 
is, to reserve to a man's self a fair retreat ; for if a man 
engage himself by a manifest declaration, he must go 



1 8 BACON'S ESSAYS [vn 

through or take a fall. The third is, the better to dis- 
cover the mind of another • for to him that opens him- 
self, men will hardly show themselves adverse ■ but will 
fair let him go on, and turn their freedom of speech to 
freedom of thought. And therefore it is a good shrewd 
proverb of the Spaniard, "Tell a lie, and find a troth"; 
as if there were no way of discovery but by simulation. 
There be also three disadvantages to set it even. The 
first, that simulation and dissimulation commonly carry 
with them a show of fearfulness, which, in any business, 
doth spoil the feathers of round flying up to the mark. 
The second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the conceits* 
of many that perhaps would otherwise cooperate with 
him, and makes a man walk almost alone to his own 
ends. The third, and greatest, is that it depriveth a 
man of one of the most principal instruments for action, 
which is trust and belief. The best composition and 
temperature is to have openness in fame and opinion, 
secrecy in habit, dissimulation in seasonable use, and a 
power to feign, if there be no remedy. 



VII. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN 

The joys of parents are secret, and so are their griefs and 
fears ; they cannot utter the one, nor they will not utter 
the other. Children sweeten labors, but they make mis- 
fortunes more bitter ; they increase the cares of life, but 
they mitigate the remembrance of death. The perpetuity 
by generation is common to beasts ; but memory, merit, and 
noble works, are proper to men ; and surely a man shall 



vii] OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN 19 

see the noblest works and foundations ° have proceeded 
from childless men, which have sought to express the 
images of their mind where those of their bodies have 
failed ; so the care of posterity is most in them that have 
no posterity. They that are the first raisers ° of their 
houses are most indulgent towards their children, be- 
holding them as the continuance, not only of their kind, 
but of their work ; and so both children and creatures. 

The difference in affection of parents towards their 
several children is many times unequal, and sometimes 
unworthy, especially in the mother ; as Solomon saith, " A 
wise son rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious son shames 
the mother." A man shall see, where there is a house full 
of children, one or two of the eldest respected, and the 
youngest made wantons ; but in the midst some that are, 
as it were, forgotten, who many times, nevertheless, prove 
the best. The illiberality of parents in allowance towards 
their children is a harmful error — makes them base, ac- 
quaints them with shifts, makes them sort with mean com- 
pany, and makes them surfeit more when they come to 
plenty ; and, therefore, the proof is best when men keep 
their authority towards their children, but not their purse. 
Men have a foolish manner, both parents, and school- 
masters, and servants, in creating and breeding an emula- 
tion between brothers during childhood, which many times 
sorteth* to discord when they are men, and disturbeth fami- 
lies. The Italians make little difference between childtei 
and nephews or near kinsfolks ; but so they be of the lump N 
they care not, though they pass not through their own 
body. And, to say truth, in nature it is much a like matter ; 
insomuch that we see a nephew sometimes resembleth an 



20 BACON'S ESSAYS [vm 

uncle or a kinsman more than his own parent, as the blood 
happens. Let parents choose betimes the vocations and 
courses they mean their children should take, for then they 
are most flexible ; and let them not too much apply them- 
selves to the disposition of their children, as thinking they 
will take best to that which they have most mind to. It 
is true that if the affection or aptness of the children be 
extraordinary, then it is good not to cross it ; but generally 
the precept is good, Optimum elige, suave et facile Mud 
faciet consuetudo} Younger brothers are commonly for- 
tunate, but seldom or never where the elder are disin- 
herited. 



VIII. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE 

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to 
fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises, 
either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works and 
of greatest merit for the public have proceeded from the 
unmarried or childless men, which both in affection and 
means have married and endowed the public. Yet it were 
great reason that those that have children should have 
greatest care of future times, unto which they know they 
must transmit their dearest pledges. Some there are who, 
though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end 
with themselves, and account future times impertinences ; 
nay, there are some other that account wife and children 
but as bills of charges ; nay more, there are some foolish, 
rich, covetous men that take a pride in having no children, 
because they may be thought so much the richer; for 
1 Choose what is best : habit will make it pleasant and easy. 



viii] OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE 21 

perhaps they have heard some talk, " Such a one is a great 
rich man," and another except to it, " Yea, but he hath a 
great charge of children," as if it were an abatement to his 
riches. But the most ordinary cause of a single life is 
liberty, especially in certain self-pleasing and humorous 
minds, which are so sensible of every restraint, as they will 
go near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds and 
shackles. 

Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best serv- 
ants, but not always best subjects ; for they are light 
to run away, and almost all fugitives are of that con- 
dition. A single life doth well with churchmen, for charity 
will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. 
It is indifferent for judges and magistrates, for if they be 
facile and corrupt you shall have a servant five times worse 
than a wife. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly, in 
their hortatives, put men in mind of their wives and chil- 
dren. And I think the despising of marriage amongst the 
Turks maketh the vulgar soldier more base. 

Certainly, wife and children are a kind of discipline of 
humanity; and single men, though they be many times 
more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, 
yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hard- 
hearted, good to make severe inquisitors, because their 
tenderness is not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led 
by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving 
husbands ; as was said of Ulysses, Vetulam suam pratulit 
immortalitati} It is one of the best bonds, both of chas- 
tity and obedience, in the wife if she think her husband 
wise, which she will never do if she find him jealous. 
1 He preferred his old wife to immortality. 



22 BACON'S ESSAYS [ix 

Wives are young men's mistresses, companions for 
middle ages, and old men's nurses ; so as a man may 
have a quarrel ° to marry when he will. But yet he was 
reputed one ° of the wise men that made answer to the 
question, when a man should marry — "A young man 
not yet, an elder man not at all." It is often seen 
that bad husbands have very good wives ; whether it be 
that it raiseth the price of their husband's kindness when 
it comes, or that the wives take a pride in their patience. 
But this never fails if the bad husbands were of their own 
choosing against their friends' consent, for then they will 
be sure to make good their own folly. 



IX. OF ENVY 



There be none of the affections* which have been noted 
to fascinate or bewitch, but love and envy. They both 
have vehement wishes ; they frame themselves readily 
into imaginations and suggestions, and they come easily 
into the eye, especially upon the presence of the objects, 
which are the points that conduce to fascination, if any 
such thing there be. We see likewise the Scripture 
calleth envy an evil eye ; ° and the astrologers call the 
evil influences* of the stars evil aspects; so that still* 
there seemeth to be acknowledged in the act of envy an 
ejaculation * or irradiation of the eye. Nay, some have 
been so curious * as to note that the tim,es when the 
stroke or percussion of an envious eye doth most hurt 
are when the party envied is beheld in glory or triumph, 
for that sets an edge upon envy ; and, besides, at such 



ix] OF ENVY 23 

times the spirits of the person envied do come forth 
most into the outward parts, and so meet the blow. 

But leaving these curiosities (though not unworthy to 
be thought on in fit place), we will handle what persons 
are apt to envy others ; what persons are most subject to 
be envied themselves ; and what is the difference be- 
tween public and private envy. 

A man that hath no virtue in himself ever envieth 
virtue in others. For men's minds will either feed upon 
their own good or upon others' evil ; ° and who wanteth 
the one will prey upon the other ; and whoso is out of 
hope to attain to another's virtue will seek to come at 
even hand by depressing another's fortune. 

A man that is busy and inquisitive is commonly envi- 
ous. For to know much of other men's matters cannot 
be because all that ado may concern his own estate ; 
therefore it must needs be that he taketh a kind of play- 
pleasure in looking upon the fortunes of others. Neither 
can he that mindeth but his own business find much 
matter for envy, for envy is a gadding passion, and 
walketh the streets, and doth not keep home. Non est 
curiosus, quin idem sit malevolus} 

Men of noble birth are noted to be envious towards 
new men when they rise, for the distance is altered, and 
it is like a deceit of the eye, that when others come on 
they think themselves go back. 

Deformed persons, and eunuchs, and old men, and 

bastards are envious ; for he that cannot possibly mend 

his own case will do what he can to impair another's, 

except these defects light upon a very brave and heroical 

1 No one is meddlesome who is not also malevolent. 



24 BACON'S ESSAYS [IX 

nature, which thinketh to make his natural wants part of 
his honor ; in that it should be said that an eunuch or a 
lame man did such great matters, affecting the honor of 
a miracle ; as it was in Narses ° the eunuch, and Agesi- 
laus ° and Tamerlane, that were lame men. 

The same is the case of men that rise after calamities 
and misfortunes ; for they are as men fallen out with the 
times, and think other men's harms a redemption* of 
their own sufferings. 

They that desire to excel in too many matters, out of 
levity and vainglory, are ever envious ; for they cannot 
want work, it being impossible but many in some one of 
those things should surpass them ; which was the charac- 
ter of Adrian, the emperor, that mortally envied poets 
and painters, and artificers in works wherein he had a 
vein* to excel. 

Lastly, near kinsfolk, and fellows in office, and those 
that have been bred together, are more apt to envy their 
equals when they ° are raised ; for it doth upbraid unto 
them their own fortunes, and pointeth at them, and 
cometh oftener in their remembrance, and incurreth* 
likewise more into the note of others ; and envy ever 
redoubleth from speech and fame. Cain's envy was the 
more vile and malignant towards his brother Abel, be- 
cause, when his sacrifice was better accepted, there was 
nobody to look on. Thus much for those that are apt 
to envy. 

Concerning those that are more or less subject to envy : 
First, persons of eminent virtue, when they are advanced, 
are less envied, for their fortune seemeth but due unto 
them ; and no man envieth the payment of a debt, but 



ix] OF ENVY 25 

rewards and liberality rather. Again, envy is ever joined 
with the comparing of a man's self; and where there is 
no comparison, no envy ; and therefore kings are not 
envied but by kings. Nevertheless, it is to be noted 
that unworthy persons are most envied at their first com- 
ing in, and afterwards overcome it better ; whereas, con- 
trariwise, persons of worth and merit are most envied 
when their fortune continueth long ; for by that time, 
though their virtue be the same, yet it hath not the same 
luster, for fresh men grow up that darken it. 

Persons of noble blood are less envied in their rising, 
for it seemeth but right done to their birth. Besides, 
there seemeth not much added to their fortune ; and 
envy is as the sunbeams, that beat hotter upon a bank 
or steep rising ground than upon a flat. And for the 
same reason, those that are advanced by degrees are less 
envied than those that are advanced suddenly, and per 
saltum} 

Those that have joined with their honor great travels,* 
cares, or perils, are less subject to envy, for men think 
that they earn their honors hardly, and pity them some- 
times ; and pity ever healeth envy. Wherefore, you shall 
observe that the more deep and sober sort of politic per- 
sons, in their greatness, are ever bemoaning themselves 
what a life they lead, chanting a Quanta patimur ; 2 not 
that they feel it so, but only to abate the edge of envy. 
But this is to be understood of business that is laid upon 
men, and not such as they call unto themselves ; for 
nothing increaseth envy more than an unnecessary and 
ambitious engrossing of business, and nothing doth ex- 
1 At a bound. 2 How much do we suffer! 



26 BACON'S ESSAYS [ix 

tinguish envy more than for a great person to preserve 
all other inferior officers in their full rights and pre-emi- 
nences of .their places ; for by that means there be so 
many screens between him and envy. 

Above all, those are most subject to envy which carry 
the greatness of their fortunes in an insolent and proud 
manner, being never well ° but while they are showing how 
great they are, either by outward pomp, or by triumphing 
over all opposition or competition ; whereas wise men will 
rather do sacrifice to envy, in suffering themselves some- 
times of purpose to be crossed and overborne in things 
that do not much concern them. Notwithstanding, so much 
is true, that the carriage of greatness in a plain and open 
manner, so it be without arrogance and vainglory, doth 
draw less envy than if it be in a more crafty and cunning 
fashion. For in that course a man doth but disavow 
fortune, and seemeth to be conscious of his own want in 
worth, and doth but teach others to envy him. 

Lastly, to conclude this part : as we said in the begin- 
ning that the act of envy had somewhat in it of witchcraft, 
so there is no other cure of envy but the cure of witch- 
craft, and that is to remove the lot,° as they call it, and 
to lay it upon another. For which purpose the wiser 
sort of great persons bring in ever upon the stage some- 
body upon whom to derive * the envy that would come 
upon themselves ; sometimes upon ministers and serv- 
ants, sometimes upon colleagues and associates, and 
the like. And for that turn there are never wanting 
some persons of violent and undertaking natures, who, 
so they may have power and business, will take it at any 
cost. 



ix] OF ENVY 27 

Now, to speak of public envy. There is yet some 
good in public envy, whereas in private there is none. 
For public envy is as an ostracism, that eclipseth men 
when they grow too great ; and therefore it is a bridle 
also to great ones to keep them within bounds. 

This envy, being in the Latin word invidia, goeth in the 
modern languages by the name of discontentment, of 
which we shall speak in handling sedition. It is a disease 
in a state like to infection ; for, as infection spreadeth 
upon that which is sound, and tainteth it, so when envy is 
gotten once into a state it traduceth even the best actions 
thereof, and turneth them into an ill odor. And there- 
fore there is little won by intermingling of plausible • ac- 
tions ; for that doth argue but a weakness and fear of 
envy, which hurteth so much the more ; as it is likewise 
usual in infections, which, if you fear them, you call them 
upon you. 

This public envy seemeth to beat chiefly upon princi- 
pal officers or ministers, rather than upon kings and 
estates • themselves. But this is a sure rule, that if the 
envy upon the minister be great when the cause of it in 
him is small, or if the envy be general in a manner upon 
all the ministers of an estate, then the envy, though 
hidden, is truly upon the state itself. And so much 
of public envy or discontentment, and the difference 
hereof from private envy, which was handled in the first 
place. 

We will add this in general, touching the affection of 
envy, that of all other affections it is the most importune 
and continual ; for of other affections there is occasion 
given but now and then, and therefore it is well said, 



28 BACON'S ESSAYS [x 

Invidia festos dies non agit} for it is ever working upon 
some or other. And it is also noted that love and envy do 
make a man pine, which other affections do not, because 
they are not so continual. It is also the vilest affection 
and the most depraved ; for which cause it is the proper 
attribute of the devil, who is called " the envious man,° 
that soweth tares among the wheat by night " ; as it 
always cometh to pass that envy worketh subtly and in 
the dark, and to the prejudice of good things, such as is 
the wheat. 



X. OF LOVE 



The stage is more beholding to love than the life of 
man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies 
and now and then of tragedies ; but in life it doth much 
mischief, sometimes like a Siren, sometimes like a Fury. 
You may observe that amongst all the great and worthy 
persons whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or 
recent, there is not one that hath been transported to the 
mad degree of love, which shows that great spirits and 
great business do keep out this weak passion. You must 
except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half-partner 
of the Empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the 
decemvir and lawgiver ; whereof the former was indeed 
a voluptuous man and inordinate, but the latter was an 
austere and wise man ; and therefore it seems, though 
rarely, that love can find entrance, not only into an open 
heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not 
1 Envy keeps no holidays. 



x] OF LOVE 29 

well kept. It is a poor saying of Epicurus, Satis mag- 
num alter alteri theatrum sumus, 1 as if man, made for 
the contemplation of heaven and all noble objects, should 
do nothing but kneel before a little idol and make himself 
subject, though not of the mouth, as beasts are, yet of the 
eye, which was given him for higher purposes. It is a 
strange thing to note the excess of this passion, and how 
it braves the nature and value of things by this, that the 
speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing 
but in love. Neither is it merely in the phrase ; for whereas 
it hath been well said that the arch-flatterer, with whom 
all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man's self 
certainly the lover is more. For there was never proud man 
thought so absurdly well of himself as the lover doth of 
the person loved, and therefore it was well said that it 
is impossible to love and to be wise. Neither doth this 
weakness appear to others only, and not to the party 
loved, but to the loved most of all, except the love be 
reciproque.* For it is a true rule that love is ever re- 
warded either with the reciproque, or with an inward and 
secret contempt ; by how much the more men ought to 
beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things 
but itself. 

As for the other losses, the poet's relation doth well 
figure them, that he that preferred Helena quitted the 
gifts of Juno and Pallas ; for whosoever esteemeth too 
much of amorous affection quitteth both riches and 
wisdom. This passion hath his* floods in the very times 
of weakness, which are great prosperity and great ad- 
versity ; though this latter hath been less observed, 

1 We are a great enough object of contemplation one for another. 



30 BACON'S ESSAYS [xi 

which both times kindle love and make it more fervent, 
and, therefore, show it to be the child of folly. 

They do best who, if they cannot but admit love, yet 
make it keep quarter, and sever it wholly from their seri- 
ous affairs and actions of life ; for if it check ■ once with 
business it troubleth men's fortunes and maketh men that 
they can no ways be true to their own ends. I know not 
how, but martial men are given to love ; I think it is but 
as they are given to wine, for perils commonly ask to be 
paid in pleasures. 

There is in man's nature a secret inclination and 
motion towards love of others, which, if it be not spent 
upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards 
many, and maketh men become humane and charitable, 
as it is seen sometime in friars. Nuptial love maketh 
mankind, friendly love perfecteth it, but wanton love 
corrupteth and embaseth it. 



XI. OF GREAT PLACE 

Men in great place ° are thrice servants : servants of 
the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of 
business ; so as • they have no freedom, neither in their 
persons nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a 
strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty ; or to 
seek power over others and to lose power over a man's 
self. The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains 
men come to greater pains ; and it is sometimes base, 
and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing 
is slippery, and the regress is either a downfall or at least 
an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing. Cum non sis 



xi] OF GREAT PLACE 3 1 

qui fueris, non esse cur velis vivere} Nay, retire men 
cannot when they would, neither will they when it were 
reason, but are impatient of privateness, even in age and 
sickness, which require the shadow ° ; like old townsmen, 
that will be still ' sitting at their street door, though there- 
by they offer age to scorn. Certainly great persons had 
need to borrow other men's opinions to think themselves 
happy ; for if they judge by their own feeling they can- 
not find it : but if they think with themselves what other 
men think of them, and that other men would fain be as 
they are, then they are happy as it were by report; 
when perhaps they find the contrary within. For they 
are the first that find their own griefs, though they be the 
last that find their own faults. Certainly men in great 
fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are 
in the puzzle of business they have no time to tend their 
health either of body or mind. //// 7110 rs gravis incubat, 
qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi. 2 

In place there is license to do good and evil, whereof 
the latter is a curse ; for in evil the best condition is not 
to will, the second not to can. But power to do good is 
the true and lawful end of aspiring. For good thoughts, 
though God accept them, yet towards men are little 
better than good dreams, except they be put in act ; and 
that cannot be without power and place, as the vantage 
and commanding ground. Merit and good works is the 
end of man's motion, and conscience of the same is the 

1 When you are no longer what you have been, there is no reason 
for wishing to live. 

2 Upon him who dies too well known to others, but unknown to 
himself, death comes with all its terrors. 



32 BACONS ESSAYS [xi 

accomplishment of man's rest. For if a man can be 
partaker of God's theater he shall likewise be partaker 
of God's rest. Et conversus Dens, ut aspiceret opera, 
qua fecerunt manus suce, vidit quod omnia essent bona 
nimis; x and then the Sabbath. 

In the discharge of thy place set before thee the best 
examples, for imitation is a globe of precepts. And 
after a time set before thee thine own example, and 
examine thyself strictly, whether thou didst not best at 
first. Neglect not also the examples of those that have 
carried themselves ill in the same place ; not to set off 
thyself by taxing their memory, but to direct thyself 
what to avoid. Reform, therefore, without bravery,* or 
scandal of former times and persons ; but yet set it down 
to thyself, as well to create good precedents as to follow 
them. Reduce ° things to the first institution, and ob- 
serve wherein and how they have degenerated ; but yet 
ask counsel of both times : of the ancient time what is 
best, and of the latter time what is fittest. Seek to make 
thy course regular, that men may know beforehand what 
they may expect; but be not too positive and peremp- 
tory, and express thyself well ° when thou digressest from 
thy rule. Preserve the right of thy place, but stir not 
questions of jurisdiction ; and rather assume thy right in 
silence and de facto, than voice it with claims and chal- 
lenges. Preserve likewise the rights of inferior places, 
and think it more honor to direct in chief than to be 
busy in all. Embrace and invite helps and advices 
touching the execution of thy place ; and do not drive 

1 And God turned to behold the works that his hands had made, 
and saw that all was very good. — Gen. i. 31. 



xi] OF GREAT PLACE 33 

away such as bring thee information, as meddlers, but 
accept of them in good part. 

The vices of authority are chiefly four : delays, cor- 
ruption, roughness, and facility. For delays, give easy 
access, keep times appointed, go through with that which 
is in hand, and interlace ° not business but of necessity. 
For corruption, do not only bind thine own hands or 
thy servants' hands from taking, but bind the hands of 
suitors also from offering. For integrity used doth the 
one, but integrity professed, and with a manifest de- 
testation of bribery, doth the other. And avoid not only 
the fault but the suspicion. Whosoever is found variable, 
and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth 
suspicion of corruption. Therefore always when thou 
changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and 
declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to 
change ; and do not think to steal it. A servant or a 
favorite, if he be inward, and no other apparent cause of 
esteem, is commonly thought but a by-way to close 
corruption. For roughness, it is a needless cause of dis- 
content ; severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth 
hate. Even reproofs from authority ought to be grave, 
and not taunting. As for facility, it is worse than 
bribery. For bribes come but now and then ; but if 
importunity or idle respects * lead a man he shall never 
be without. As Solomon saith, " To respect persons is 
not good ; for such a man will transgress for a piece of 
bread." 

It is most true that was anciently spoken, "A place 
showeth the man " ; and it showeth some to the better, 
and some to the worse. Omnium consensu, capax im- 



34 BACON'S ESSAYS [xn 

peril, nisi impemsset, 1 saith Tacitus of Galba; but of 
Vespasian he saith, Solus impera,7itium Vespasia?ius 
mutatus in melius? Though the one was meant of suffi- 
ciency, the other of manners and affection. It is an 
assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom honor 
amends. For honor is, or should be, the place of virtue, 
and as in nature things move violently to their place and 
calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in 
authority settled and calm. 

All rising to great place is by a winding stair j ° and, if 
there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst 
he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is 
placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and 
tenderly ; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be 
paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, re- 
spect them ; and rather call them when they look not for 
it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to 
be called.' Be not too sensible* or too remembering of 
thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors ; 
but let it rather be said, " When he sits in place he is 
another man." 



XII. OF BOLDNESS 

It is a trivial ° grammar-school text, but yet worthy a 
wise man's consideration. Question was asked of De- 
mosthenes, What was the chief part of an orator? He 

1 Had he never been emperor universal opinion would have held 
him fit to rule. — TACITUS, History i. 49. 

2 Vespasian alone was changed for the better by empire. 

— Tacitus, History i. so. 



xii] OF BOLDNESS 35 

answered, Action. What next? Action. What next 
again? Action. He said it that knew it best, and had 
by nature himself no advantage in that he commended. 
A strange thing, that that part of an orator which is but 
superficial, and rather the virtue ' of a player, should be 
placed so high above those other noble parts of in- 
vention, elocution, and the rest — nay, almost alone, as 
if it were all in all. But the reason is plain. There is in 
human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise ; 
and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of 
men's minds is taken are most potent. Wonderful like 
is the case of boldness in civil business.* What first? 
Boldness. What second and third ? Boldness. And yet 
boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior 
to other parts. But nevertheless it doth fascinate and 
bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judg- 
ment or weak in courage, which are the greatest part — 
yea, and prevaileth with wise men at weak times. There- 
fore, we see it hath done wonders in popular • states, but 
with senates and princes less ; and more ever upon the 
first entrance of bold persons into action than soon after ; 
for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. 

Surely, as there are mountebanks for the natural body, 
so there are mountebanks for the politic body ; men 
that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky 
in two or three experiments, but want the grounds of 
science, and therefore cannot hold out. Nay, you shall 
see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. 
Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a 
hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers 
for the observers of his law. The people assembled ; 



36 BACON'S ESSAYS [xn 

Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again ; 
and when the hill stood still he was never a whit abashed, 
but said, "If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet 
will go to the hill." So these men, when they have 
promised great matters and failed most shamefully, yet, if 
they have the perfection of boldness, they will but slight 
it over, and make a turn, and no more ado. 

Certainly to men of great judgment bold persons are a 
sport to behold. Nay, and to the vulgar also boldness 
hath somewhat of the ridiculous ; for if absurdity be the 
subject of laughter, doubt you not but great boldness is 
seldom without some absurdity. Especially it is a sport 
to see when a bold fellow is out of countenance, for that 
puts his face into a most shrunken and wooden posture, 
as needs it must ; for in bashfulness the spirits ° do a little 
go and come : but with bold men, upon like occasion, 
they stand at a stay, like a stale ° at chess, where it is no 
mate, but yet the game cannot stir ; but this last were 
fitter for a satire than for a serious observation. 

This is well to be weighed, that boldness is ever blind, 
for it seeth not dangers and inconveniences. Therefore 
it is ill in counsel, good in execution ; so that the right 
use of bold persons is that they never command in 
chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others. 

For in counsel it is good to see dangers ; and in execu- 
tion not to see them, except they be very great. 



XIII] GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF NATURE 37 

XIII. OF GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF 
NATURE 

I take goodness in this sense, — the affecting • of the 
weal of men, which is that the Grecians call philanthro- 
pia; • and the word humanity, as it is used, is a little too 
light to express it. Goodness I call the habit, and good- 
ness of nature the inclination. This, of all virtues and 
dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being the character 
of the Deity ; and without it man is a busy, mischievous, 
wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin. Good- 
ness answers to the theological virtue charity, and admits 
no excess, but error. The desire of power, in excess, 
caused the angels to fall ; the desire of knowledge, in 
excess, caused man to fall ; but in charity there is no 
excess, neither can angel or man come in danger by it. 
The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the 
nature of man ; insomuch that if it issue not towards men, 
it will take unto other living creatures, as it is seen in the 
Turks, a cruel people, who nevertheless are kind to 
beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds ; insomuch as 
Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople 
had like to have been stoned for gagging, in a waggishness, 
a long-billed fowl. 

Errors, indeed, in this virtue of goodness or charity, 
may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious 
proverb, Tan to buon die val niente (So good that he is good 
for nothing) . And one of the doctors • of Italy, Nicholas 
Machiavel, had the confidence to put in writing, almost 
in plain terms, that the Christian faith had given up good 
men in prey to those that are tyrannical and unjust; which 



38 BACON'S ESSAYS [xm 

he spake because indeed there was never law, or sect, or 
opinion, did so much magnify goodness as the Chris- 
tian religion doth. Therefore, to avoid the scandal and 
the danger both, it is good to take knowledge of the errors 
of a habit so excellent. Seek the good of other men, but 
be not in bondage to their faces or fancies j for that is 
but facility or softness, which taketh an honest mind 
prisoner. Neither give thou yEsop's cock a gem, who 
would be better pleased and happier if he had a barley- 
corn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truly : 
" He sendeth his rain and maketh his sun to shine upon 
the just and the unjust " j ° but He doth not rain wealth nor 
shine honor and virtues upon men equally. Common 
benefits are to be communicated with all, but peculiar 
benefits with choice. And beware how in making the por- 
traiture thou breakest the pattern ; for divinity ° maketh 
the love of ourselves the pattern, the love of our neighbors 
but the portraiture. " Sell all thou hast,° and give it to 
the poor, and follow me." But sell not all thou hast 
except thou come and follow me — that is, except thou 
have a vocation, wherein thou mayest do as much good 
with little means as with great; for, otherwise, in feeding 
the streams thou driest the fountain. 

Neither is there only a habit of goodness directed by 
right reason ; but there is in some men, even in nature 
a disposition towards it, as on the other side there is a 
natural malignity. For there be that in their nature 
do not affect • the good of others. The lighter sort of 
malignity turneth but to a crossness, or frowardness, or 
aptness to oppose, or difficileness,* or the like ; but the 
deeper sort to envy and mere* mischief. Such men, in 



xiv] OF NOBILITY 39 

other men's calamities, are, as it were, in season, and are 
ever on the loading part — not so good as the dogs that 
licked Lazarus' ° sores, but like flies that are still • buzzing 
upon anything that is raw : misanthropi, that make it 
their practice to bring men to the bough, and yet have 
never a tree for the purpose in their gardens, as Timon ° 
had. Such dispositions are the very errors of human 
nature, and yet they are the fittest timber to make great 
politics * of; like to knee-timber,° that is good for ships 
that are ordained to be tossed, but not for building houses 
that shall stand firm. 

The parts and signs of goodness are many. If a man 
be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a 
citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off 
from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. If 
he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it 
shows that his heart is like the noble tree ° that is wounded 
itself when it gives the balm. If he easily pardons and 
remits offenses, it shows that his mind is planted above 
injuries, so that he cannot be shot. If he be thankful for 
small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and 
not their trash. But, above all, if he have St. Paul's per- 
fection that he would wish to be an anathema from 
Christ for the salvation of his brethren, it shows much of 
a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with Christ 
Himself. 



XIV. OF NOBILITY 

We will speak of nobility first as a portion of an estate, 
then as a condition of particular persons. A monarchy, 



40 BACON'S ESSAYS [xiv 

where there is no nobility at all, is ever a pure and absolute 
tyranny, as that of the Turks ; for nobility attempers sover- 
eignty, and draws the eyes of the people somewhat aside 
from the line royal. But for democracies, they need it 
not ; and they are commonly more quiet, and less subject 
to sedition, than where there are stirps* of nobles ; for men's 
eyes are upon the business, not upon the persons ; or if 
upon the persons, it is for the business' sake, as fittest, and 
not for flags and pedigree. We see the Svvitzers last well, 
notwithstanding their diversity of religion, and of cantons, 
for utility is their bond, and not respects.* The United 
Provinces of the Low Countries in their government excel, 
for where there is an equality, the consultations are more 
indifferent, and the payments and tributes more cheerful. 
A great and potent nobility addeth majesty to a monarch, 
but diminished! power ; and putteth life and spirit into the 
people, but presseth their fortune. It is well when nobles 
are not too great for sovereignty nor for justice, and yet 
maintained in that height as the insolence of inferiors may 
be broken ° upon them, before it come on too fast upon the 
majesty of kings. A numerous nobility causeth poverty 
and inconvenience in a state, for it is a surcharge of 
expense ; and, besides, it being of necessity that many of 
the nobility fall in time to be weak in fortune, it maketh a 
kind of disproportion between honor and means. 

As for nobility in particular persons, it is a reverend 
thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay, or to 
see a fair timber-tree sound and perfect ; how much more 
to behold an ancient noble family which hath stood 
against the waves and weathers of time ! For new nobility 
is but the act of power, but ancient nobility is the act of time. 



xv] OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 41 

Those that are first raised to nobility are commonly more 
virtuous, but less innocent, than their descendants, for 
there is rarely any rising ° but by a commixture of good 
and evil arts ; but it is reason the memory of their virtues 
remain to their posterity, and their faults die with them- 
selves. Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry ; and 
he that is not industrious envieth him that is. Besides, 
noble persons cannot go much higher ; and he thatstandeth 
at a stay, when others rise, can hardly avoid motions of 
envy. On the other side, nobility extinguisheth the passive 
envy from others towards them, because they are in pos- 
session of honor. Certainly kings that have able men of 
their nobility shall find ease in employing them, and a 
better slide into their business ; for people naturally bend 
to them, as born in some sort to command. 



XV. OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 

Shepherds of people had need know the calendars of 
tempests in state, which are commonly greatest when 
things grow to equality, as natural tempests are greatest 
about the equinoctia. And as there are certain hollow 
blasts of wind and secret swellings of seas before a tem- 
pest, so are there in states : 

Ille etiam ccecos instare tumultus 
Scepe monet, fraudesque et operta tumescere bella?- 

Libels and licentious discourses against the state, when 
they are frequent and open, and in like sort false news 

1 He also [the sun] often warns us of the approach of unseen 
troubles and of gathering treason and dark-plotted wars. 

— Virgil, Georgics i. 465. 



42 BACON'S ESSAYS [xv 

often running up and down to the disadvantage of the 
state, and hastily embraced, are amongst the signs of 
troubles. Virgil, giving the pedigree of Fame, saith " she 
was sister to the giants." 

Illam Terra parens, ira irritata Deorum, 
Extremam, ut perhibent, Cceo Enceladoque sororem 
Progennit. 1 

As if fames were the relics of seditions past; but they are 
no less indeed the preludes of seditions to come. How- 
soever he noteth it right, that seditious tumults and se- 
ditious fames differ no more but as brother and sister, 
masculine and feminine, especially if it come to that, that 
the best actions of a state, and the most plausible, and 
which ought to give greatest contentment, are taken in ill 
sense and traduced ; for that shows the envy great, as 
Tacitus saith, Conjiata magna invidia, sen dene, sen male, 
gesta premunt 2 Neither doth it follow that because these 
fames are a sign of troubles, that the suppressing of them 
with too much severity should be a remedy of troubles. 
For the despising of them many times checks them best ; 
and the going about to stop them doth but make a wonder 
long-lived. Also that kind of obedience which Tacitus 
speaketh of is to be held suspected, Erant in officio, sed 
iamen qui mallent mandata imperantium interpretari quam 
exsequiS' Disputing, excusing, caviling upon mandates 
and directions, is a kind of shaking off the yoke and assay 

1 Earth, her parent, provoked by the anger of the gods, brought her 
forth, they say, the youngest of the family, sister of Cceus and 
Enceladus. — VIRGIL, ALneid iv. 179. 

2 When envy is once aroused, good acts and bad acts alike offend. 

— Tacitus, History i. 7. 

3 They were ready to serve, and yet more disposed to construe com- 
mands than execute them. — TACITUS, History ii. 39. 



xv] OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 43 

of disobedience ; especially if in those disputings they 
which are for the direction speak fearfully and tenderly, 
and those that are against it audaciously. 

Also, as Machiavel noteth well, when princes, that ought 
to be common parents, make themselves as a party, and 
lean to a side, it is as a boat that is overthrown by uneven 
weight on the one side, as was well seen in the time of 
Henry III of France ; for first, himself entered league ° 
for the extirpation of the Protestants, and presently after, 
the same league was turned upon himself. For when the 
authority of princes is made but an accessory to a cause, 
and that there be other bands that tie faster than the 
band of sovereignty, kings begin to be put almost out of 
possession. 

Also, when discords and quarrels, and factions, are 
carried openly and audaciously, it is a sign the reverence 
of government is lost. For the motions of the greatest 
persons in a government ought to be as the motions of the 
planets under pri/mtm mobile ,° according to the old opinion, 
which is that every of them is carried swiftly by the 
highest motion, and softly in their own motion. And 
therefore, when great ones in their own particular motion 
move violently, and, as Tacitus expresseth it well, liberius, 
quam ut imperantium meminissent} it is a sign the orbs 
are out of frame. For reverence is that wherewith princes 
are girt from God, who threateneth the dissolving thereof ; 
Solvam cingula regicm? 

So when any of the four pillars of government are 
mainly shaken or weakened (which are religion, justice, 

1 More freely than is consistent with respect for their rulers. — TACITUS, 
Annals iii. 4. 2 1 w ill loose the girdles of kings. — Isaiah xlv. 1. 



44 BACON'S ESSAYS [xv 

counsel, and treasure), men had need to pray for fair 
weather. But let us pass from this part of predictions, 
concerning which, nevertheless, more light may be taken 
from that which follovveth ; and let us speak first of the 
materials of seditions ; then of the motives of them ; and, 
thirdly, of the remedies. 

Concerning the materials of seditions, it is a thing well 
to be considered ; for the surest way to prevent seditions, 
if the times do bear it, is to take away the matter of 
them. For if there be fuel prepared, it is hard to tell 
whence the spark shall Come that shall set it on fire. The 
matter of seditions is of two kinds : much poverty, and 
much discontentment. It is certain, so many overthrown 
estates, so many votes for troubles. Lucan noteth well 
the state of Rome before the civil war : 

Hinc usura vorax, rapidumque in tempore fcenus, 
Hinc concussa fides, et multis utile bellum?- 

This same multis utile bellum is an assured and infal- 
lible sign of a state disposed to seditions and troubles. 
And if this poverty and broken estate in the better sort be 
joined with a want and necessity in the mean people, the 
danger is imminent and great ; for the rebellions of the 
belly are the worst. As for discontentments, they are in 
the politic body like to humors in the natural, which are apt 
to gather a preternatural heat, and to inflame. And let 
no prince measure the danger of them by this, whether 
they be just or unjust, for that were to imagine people to 
be too reasonable, who do often spurn at their own good ; 

1 Hence came voracious usury, and interest swift in time ; hence 
shaken credit and war profitable to many. — Pharsalia i. 181, 2. 



xv] OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 45 

nor yet by this, whether the griefs whereupon they rise 
be, in fact, great or small, for they are the most dangerous 
discontentments where the fear is greater than the feeling. 
Dolendi modus, timendi non item} Besides, in great 
oppressions, the same things that provoke the patience, 
do withal make the courage, but in fears it is not so. 
Neither let any prince or state be secure concerning dis- 
contentments because they have been often or have been 
long, and yet no peril hath ensued ; for as it is true that 
every vapor or fume doth not turn into a storm, so it is 
nevertheless true that storms, though they blow over divers 
times, yet may fall at last ; and as the Spanish proverb 
noteth well, " The cord breaketh at the last by the weakest 
pull." 

The causes and motives of seditions are innovation in 
religion, taxes, alteration of laws and customs, breaking 
of privileges, general oppression, advancements of un- 
worthy persons, strangers, dearths, disbanded soldiers, 
factions grown desperate ; and whatsoever in offending 
people joineth and knitteth them in a common cause. 

For the remedies, there may be some general preserva- 
tive, whereof we will speak; as for the just cure, it must 
answer to the particular disease, and so be left to counsel 
rather than rule. 

The first remedy or prevention is to remove by all 
means possible that material cause of sedition whereof we 
spake, which is want and poverty in the estate ; to which 
purpose serveth the opening and well-balancing of trade, 
the cherishing of manufactures, the banishing of idleness, 
the repressing of waste and excess by sumptuary laws, the 
1 There is a limit to suffering, but not to fear. — PLINY, Letters viii. 17. 6. 



46 BACON'S ESSAYS [xv 

improvement and husbanding of the soil, the regulating 
of prices of things vendible, the moderating of taxes and 
tributes, and the like. Generally it is to be foreseen that 
the population of a kingdom, especially if it be not mown 
down by wars, do not exceed the stock of the kingdom 
which should maintain them. Neither is the population 
to be reckoned only by number ; for a smaller number 
that spend more and earn less do wear out an estate sooner 
than a greater number that live lower and gather more. 
Therefore, the multiplying of nobility, and other degrees 
of quality, in an over proportion to the common people, 
doth speedily bring a state to necessity ; and so doth 
likewise an overgrown clergy, for they bring nothing to the 
stock ; and in like manner, when more are bred scholars 
than preferments can take off. 

It is likewise to be remembered that forasmuch as the 
increase of any estate must be upon the foreigner (for 
whatsoever is somewhere gotten is somewhere lost), there 
be but three things which one nation selleth unto an- 
other : the commodity as nature yieldeth it ; the manu- 
facture ; and the vecture, or carriage. So that if these 
three wheels go, wealth will flow as in a spring tide. 
And it cometh many times to pass that materiam su- 
perabit opus, that the work and carriage is more worth 
than the material, and enricheth a state more ; as is 
notably seen in the Low- Countrymen, who have the best 
mines above ground in the world. 

Above all things, good policy is to be used, that the 
treasures and moneys in a state be not gathered into few 
hands ; for otherwise a state may have a great stock, 
and yet starve. And money is like muck, not good ex- 



XV] OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 47 

cept it be spread. This is done chiefly by suppressing, or, 
at the least, keeping a strait hand upon the devouring 
trades of usury, engrossing,* great pasturages, and the like. 

For removing discontentments, or at least the danger 
of them, there is in every state, as we know, two portions 
of subjects, the noblesse and the commonalty. When 
one of these is discontent, the danger is not great, for 
common people are of slow motion if they be not excited 
by the greater sort ; and the greater sort are of small 
strength, except the multitude be apt and ready to move 
of themselves. Then is the danger, when the greater sort 
do but wait for the troubling of the waters amongst the 
meaner, that then they may declare themselves. The 
poets feign that the rest of the gods would have bound Ju- 
piter, which he hearing of, by the counsel of Pallas, sent 
for Briareus with his hundred hands to come in to his aid, 
— an emblem, no doubt, to show how safe it is for mon- 
archs to make sure of the good will of common people. 

To give moderate liberty for griefs and discontentments 
to evaporate, so it be without too great insolency or 
bravery, is a safe way ; for he that turneth the humors 
back, and maketh the wound bleed inwards, endangereth 
malign ulcers, and pernicious impostumations.* 

The part of Epimetheus might well become Prometheus 
in the case of discontentments, for there is not a better 
provision against them. Epimetheus, when griefs and evils 
flew abroad, at last shut the lid, and kept Hope in the 
bottom of the vessel. Certainly the politic and artificial 
nourishing and entertaining of hopes, and carrying men 
from hopes to hopes, is one of the best antidotes against 
the poison of discontentments. And it is a certain sign 



48 BACON'S ESSAYS [xv 

of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold 
men's hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction; and 
when it can handle things in such manner as no evil shall 
appear so peremptory but that it hath some outlet of hope ; 
which is the less hard to do, because both particular persons 
and factions are apt enough to flatter themselves, or at 
least to brave that which they believe not. 

Also the foresight and prevention that there be no likely 
or fit head, whereunto discontented persons may resort, and 
under whom they may join, is a known, but an excellent 
point of caution. I understand a fit head to be one that 
hath greatness and reputation, that hath confidence with 
the discontented party, and upon whom they turn their 
eyes, and that is thought discontented in his own particu- 
lar ; which kind of persons are either to be won and recon- 
ciled to the state, and that in a fast and true manner, or 
to be fronted with some other of the same party that may 
oppose them, and so divide the reputation. Generally, 
the dividing and breaking of all factions and combinations 
that are adverse to the state, and setting them at distance, 
or at least distrust amongst themselves, is not one of the 
worst remedies ; for it is a desperate case if those that hold 
with the proceeding of the state be full of discord and fac- 
tion, and those that are against it be entire and united. 

I have noted that some witty and sharp speeches which 
have fallen from princes have given fire to seditions. 
Caesar did himself infinite hurt in that speech, Sylla nesei- 
vitliteras, non potuit die tare? for it did utterly cut off that 
hope which men had entertained, that he would at one time 
or other give over his dictatorship. Galba undid himself 
1 Sulla did not know his letters and could not dictate. 



xvi] OF ATHEISM 49 

by that speech, Legi a se militem, non emi, 1 for it put the 
soldiers out of hope of the donative. Probus likewise by 
that speech, Si vixero, non opus erit amplius Romano 
imperio militibus? a speech of great despair for the soldiers ; 
and many the like. Surely, princes had need,, in tender 
matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say, espe- 
cially in these short speeches, which fly abroad like darts 
and are thought to be shot out of their secret intentions ; 
for, as for large discourses, they are flat things, and not so 
much noted. 

Lastly, let princes, against all events, not be without 
some great person, one, or rather more, of military valor, 
near unto them, for the repressing of seditions in their 
beginnings; for without that there useth to be more 
trepidation in court upon the first breaking out of troubles 
than were fit. And the state runneth the danger of that 
which Tacitus saith, Atque is habitus animorum fuit, ut 
pessimum f acinus auderent pauci, plures vellent, omnes 
paterentur? But let such military persons be assured and 
well reputed of, rather than factious and popular ; holding 
also good correspondence with the other great men in the 
state, or else the remedy is worse than the disease. 



XVI. OF ATHEISM 

I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and 
the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal 

1 That he was in the habit of levying soldiers, not buying them. 

2 If I live, the Roman empire shall have no more need of soldiers. 

8 Such was the state of feeling that, while there were few to venture on 
so foul a deed, many wished it done, and all acquiesced in it. 



50 BACON'S ESSAYS [xvi 

frame is without a mind. And therefore God never 
wrought miracle to convince atheism, because His ordinary 
works convince it. It is true that a little philosophy in- 
clineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy 
bringeth men's minds about to religion ; for while the 
mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may 
sometimes rest in them and go no farther; but when it 
beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked to- 
gether, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity. Nay, 
even that school which is most accused of atheism doth 
most demonstrate religion, that is, the school of Leucippus, 
and Democritus, and Epicurus. For it is a thousand times 
more credible that four mutable elements, and one im- 
mutable fifth essence duly and eternally placed, need no 
God, than that an army of infinite small portions, or seeds 
unplaced, should have produced this order and beauty 
without a divine marshal. 

The Scripture saith, " The fool hath said in his heart, 
There is no God." It is not said, "The fool hath 
thought in his heart," so as he rather saith it by rote to 
himself, as that he would have, than that he can thor- 
oughly believe it, or be persuaded of it. For none deny 
there is a God but those for whom it maketh that there 
were no God. It appeareth in nothing more that atheism 
is rather in the lip than in the heart of man than by this, 
that atheists will ever be talking of that their opinion, as 
if they fainted in it within themselves, and would be 
glad to be strengthened by the consent of others. Nay, 
more, you shall have atheists strive to get disciples, as it 
fareth with other sects ; and, which is most of all, you 
shall have of them that will suffer for atheism, and not 



xvi] OF ATHEISM 5 1 

recant ; whereas if they did truly think that there were 
no such thing as God, why should they trouble them- 
selves ? Epicurus is charged that he did but dissemble for 
his credit's sake when he affirmed there were blessed 
natures, but such as enjoyed themselves without having 
respect to the government of the world ; wherein they say 
he did temporize, though in secret he thought there was 
no God. But certainly he is traduced, for his words are 
noble and divine, Non Deos vulgi negare profanum ; sed 
vulgi opiniones Diis applicare profanum. 1 Plato could 
have said no more. And although he had the confidence 
to deny the administration, he had not the power to deny 
the nature. The Indians of the West have names for 
their particular god, though they have no name for God ; 
as if the heathens should have had the names Jupiter, 
Apollo, Mars, etc., but not the word Deus, which shows 
that even those barbarous people have the notion, though 
they have not the latitude and extent of it. So that 
against atheists the very savages take part with the very 
subtlest philosophers. The contemplative atheist is rare ; 
a Diagoras, a Bion, a Lucian perhaps, and some others ; 
and yet they seem to be more than they are, for that all 
that impugn a received religion or superstition are by the 
adverse part branded with the name of atheists. But the 
great atheists indeed are hypocrites, which are ever 
handling holy things, but without feeling, so as they must 
needs be cauterized in the end. 

The causes of atheism are divisions in religion, if 

1 It is not denying the existence of the gods of the people, but the 
application to the gods of the opinions of the people, that makes real 
profanity. 



52 BACON'S ESSAYS [xvi 

they be many ; for any one main division addeth zeal to 
both sides, but many divisions introduce atheism. An- 
other is scandal of priests, when it is come to that which 
St. Bernard saith, Non est jam dicere, ut popidus, sic 
sacerdos : quia nee sic populus, ut sacerdos} A third is 
custom of profane scoffing in holy matters, which doth 
by little and little deface the reverence of religion. And, 
lastly, learned times, especially with peace and prosperity, 
for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds 
to religion. 

They that deny a God destroy man's nobility, for cer- 
tainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body ; and if he 
be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ig- 
noble creature. It destroys likewise magnanimity and 
the raising of human nature. For take an example of a 
dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he will 
put on when he finds himself maintained by a man, who 
to him is instead of a God, or melior natura, which 
courage is manifestly such as that creature, without that 
confidence of a better nature than his own, could never 
attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself 
upon Divine protection and favor, gathereth a force and 
faith which human nature in itself could not obtain. 
Therefore as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, 
that it depriveth human nature of the means to exalt it- 
self above human frailty. As it is in particular persons, 
so it is in nations. Never was there such a state for 
magnanimity as Rome ; of this state hear what Cicero 
saith, Quam volumus, licet, patres conscripti, nos amemus, 

1 One can no longer say " As the people, so the priest," for the people 
are not so bad as the priest. 



xvii] OF SUPERSTITION 53 

tamen nee numero Hispanos, nee robore Gallos, nee ealli- 
date Pcenos, nee artibus Grceeos, nee denique hoc ipso 
hujus gentis et terrce domestico nativoque sensu Italos 
ipsos et Latinos ; sed pietate, ae religione, atque hae una 
sapientia, quod deorum immortalium numine omnia 
regi, gubemarique perspeximus, omnes gentes, nationes- 
que superavinius} 



XVII. OF SUPERSTITION 

It were better to have no opinion ° of God at all than 
such an opinion as is unworthy of Him, for the one is 
unbelief, the other is contumely. And certainly super- 
stition is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well 
to that purpose. " Surely," saith he, " I had rather a 
great deal men should say there was no such man at all 
as Plutarch, than that they should say that there was one 
Plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were 
born," as the poets speak of Saturn. And as the con- 
tumely is greater towards God, so the danger is greater 
towards men. Atheism leaves a man to sense, to phi- 
losophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation ; all which 
may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though reli- 
gion were not. But superstition dismounts all these, and 

1 We may esteem ourselves, Conscript Fathers, as highly as we 
please ; yet we cannot match the Spaniards in numbers, the Gauls in 
bodily strength, the Carthaginians in cunning, the Greeks in art, or 
indeed our own Italians and Latins in the domestic and native affec- 
tion which characterizes this land and nation. But in piety, and re- 
ligion, and recognition of the one great truth that all things are regulated 
and directed by the providence of the immortal gods, we have surpassed 
all nations and peoples. 



54 BACON'S ESSAYS [xvn 

erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. 
Therefore atheism did never perturb states, for it makes 
men wary of themselves as looking no further. And we 
see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augus- 
tus Caesar) were civil • times. But superstition hath been 
the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new/n- 
mum mobile that ravisheth all the spheres of government. 

The master of superstition is the people, and in all 
superstition wise men follow fools ; and arguments are 
fitted to practice in a reversed order. It was gravely 
said by some of the prelates in the Council of Trent, 
where the doctrine of the schoolmen bare great sway, 
" that the schoolmen were like astronomers, which did 
feign eccentrics, and epicycles, and such engines of orbs, 
to save the phenomena, though they knew there were no 
such things"; and, in like manner, that the schoolmen 
had framed a number of subtle and intricate axioms and 
theorems to save the practice of the Church. 

The causes of superstition are pleasing and sensual 
rites and ceremonies, excess of outward and pharisaical 
holiness, over-great reverence of traditions, which cannot 
but load the Church ; the stratagems of prelates for their 
own ambition and lucre ; the favoring too much of good 
intentions, which openeth the gate to conceits and novel- 
ties ; the taking an aim at divine matters by human, 
which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations ; and, 
lastly, barbarous times, especially joined with calamities 
and disasters. 

Superstition without a veil is a deformed thing, for as 
it addeth deformity to an ape to be so like a man, so the 
similitude of superstition to religion makes it the more 



xviii] OF TRAVEL 55 

deformed. And as wholesome meat corrupteth to 
little worms, so good forms and orders corrupt into a 
number of petty observances. There is a superstition 
in avoiding superstition, when men think to do best if 
they go furthest from the superstition formerly received. 
Therefore care would be had that, as it fareth in ill-pur- 
gings, the good be not taken away with the bad, which 
commonly is done when the people is the reformer. 



XVIII. OF TRAVEL 

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education ; in 
the elder, a part of experience. He that traveleth into 
a country before he hath some entrance into the language, 
goeth to school, and not to travel. That young men 
travel under some tutor or grave servant, I allow • well ; so 
that he be such a one that hath the language and hath 
been in the country before, whereby he may be able to 
tell them what things are worthy to be seen in the country 
where they go, what acquaintances they are to seek, 
what exercises or discipline the place yieldeth. For else 
young men shall go hooded, and look abroad little. 

It is a strange thing that in sea voyages, where there is 
nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make 
diaries ; but in land travel, wherein so much is to be 
observed, for the most part they omit it; as if chance 
were fitter to be registered than observation. Let diaries, 
therefore, be brought in use. 

The things to be seen and observed are the courts of 
princes, especially when they give audience to ambassa- 



56 BACON'S ESSAYS [xvm 

dors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes ; 
and so of consistories ecclesiastic ; the churches and 
monasteries, with the monuments which are therein ex- 
tant ; the walls and fortifications of cities and towns ; 
and so the havens and harbors ; antiquities and ruins ; 
libraries, colleges, disputations, and lectures, where any 
are; shipping and navies; houses and gardens of state 
and pleasure near great cities ; armories, arsenals, maga- 
zines, exchanges, burses, warehouses ; exercises of 
horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers and the like ; 
comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do 
resort ; treasuries of jewels and robes, cabinets and rari- 
ties ; and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable in the 
places where they go : after all which the tutors or serv- 
ants ought to make diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, 
masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and 
such shows, men need not to be put in mind of them ; 
yet are they not to be neglected. If you will have a 
young man to put his travel into a little room, and in 
short time to gather much, this you must do. First, as 
was said, he must have some entrance into the language 
before he goeth. Then he must have such a servant or 
tutor as knoweth the country, as was likewise said. Let 
him carry with him also some card ° or book describing 
the country where he traveleth, which will be a good key 
to his inquiry. Let him keep also a diary. Let him 
not stay long in one city or town ; more or less as the 
place deserveth, but not long. Nay, when he stayeth in 
one city or town, let him change his lodging from one 
end and part of the town to another, which is a great 
adamant of acquaintance. Let him sequester himself 



xvm] OF TRAVEL 57 

from the company of his countrymen, and diet in such 
places where there is good company of the nation where 
he traveleth. Let him, upon his removes from one place 
to another, procure recommendation to some person 
of quality residing in the place whither he removeth, 
that he may use his favor in those things he desireth 
to see or know. Thus he may abridge his travel with 
much profit. 

As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel, 
that which is most of all profitable is acquaintance with 
the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors ; for 
so in traveling in one country he shall suck the experience 
of many. Let him also see and visit eminent persons in 
all kinds which are of great name abroad, that he may be 
able to tell how the life agreeth with the fame. For 
quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided. 
They are commonly for mistresses, healths, place,' and 
words. And let a man beware how he keepeth company 
with choleric and quarrelsome persons, for they will en- 
gage him into their own quarrels. When a traveler re- 
turned! home, let him not leave the countries where he 
hath traveled altogether behind him, but maintain a cor- 
respondence by letters with those of his acquaintance 
which are of most worth. And let his travel appear 
rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture ; ° 
and in his discourse let him be rather advised ' in his 
answers than forward to tell stories. And let it appear 
that he doth not change his country manners for those 
of foreign parts, but only prick • in some flowers of 
that he hath learned abroad, into the customs of his own 
country. 



58 BACON'S ESSAYS [xix 

XIX. OF EMPIRE 

It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to 
desire, and many things to fear ; and yet that commonly 
is the case of kings, who being at the highest, want matter 
of desire, which makes their minds more languishing ; and 
have many representations of perils and shadows, which 
make their minds the less clear. And this is one reason 
also of that effect which the Scripture speaketh of, "that 
the king's heart is inscrutable." For multitude of jeal- 
ousies and lack of some predominant desire that should 
marshal and put in order all the rest, maketh any man's 
heart hard to find or sound. Hence it comes likewise 
that princes many times make themselves desires, and 
set their hearts upon toys :° sometimes upon a building ; 
sometimes upon erecting of an order ; sometimes upon 
the advancing of a person ; sometimes upon obtaining 
excellency in some art, or feat of the hand, as Nero for 
playing on the harp, Domitian for certainty of the hand 
with the arrow, Commodus for playing at fence, Cara- 
calla for driving chariots, and the like. This seemeth 
incredible unto those that know not the principle, that 
the mind of man is more cheered and refreshed by 
profiting in small things, than by standing at a stay in 
great. We see also that kings that have been fortunate 
conquerors in their first years, — it being not possible for 
them to go forward infinitely, but that they must have 
some check or arrest in their fortunes, — turn in their 
latter years to be superstitious and melancholy, as did 
Alexander the Great, Diocletian, and in our memory, 
Charles V, and others; for he that is used to go for- 



xix] OF EMPIRE 59 

ward, and findeth a stop, falleth out of his own favor, 
and is not the thing he was. 

To speak now of the true temper of empire, it is a thing 
rare and hard to keep, for both temper and distemper con- 
sist of contraries. But it is one thing to mingle contraries, 
another to interchange them. The answer of Apollonius 
to Vespasian is full of excellent instruction. Vespasian 
asked him, "What was Nero's overthrow?" He an- 
swered, " Nero could touch and tune the harp well, but 
in government sometimes he used to wind the pins too 
high, sometimes to let them down too low." And cer- 
tain it is, that nothing destroyeth authority so much as 
the unequal and untimely interchange of power pressed 
too far, and relaxed too much. 

This is true, that the wisdom ° of all these latter times in 
princes' affairs, is rather fine deliveries, and shiftings of 
dangers and mischiefs when they are near, than solid and 
grounded courses to keep them aloof. But this is but to 
try masteries with fortune ; and let men beware how they 
neglect and suffer matter of trouble to be prepared ; for 
no man can forbid the spark, nor tell whence it may come. 
The difficulties in princes' business are many and great ; 
but the greatest difficulty is often in their own mind. 
For it is common with princes, saith Tacitus, to will contra- 
dictories : Sunt plerumque regum voluntates vehementes, 
et inter se contraries. 1 For it is the solecism • of power to 
think to command the end, and yet not to endure the 
mean. 

Kings have to deal with their neighbors, their wives, 

1 The desires of kings are generally violent and inconsistent with one 
another. 



60 BACON'S ESSAYS [xix 

their children, their prelates or clergy, their nobles, their 
second nobles or gentlemen, their merchants, their com- 
mons, and their men of war ; and from all these arise 
dangers if care and circumspection be not used. 

First, for their neighbors, there can no general rule be 
given, the occasions are so variable, save one, which ever 
holdeth ; which is, that princes do keep due sentinel that 
none of their neighbors do overgrow so, by increase of 
territory, by embracing of trade, by approaches, or the 
like, as they become more able to annoy them than they 
were. And this is generally the work of standing councils 
to foresee and to hinder it. During that triumvirate of 
kings, King Henry VIII of England, Francis I, King of 
France, and Charles V, Emperor, there was such a watch 
kept that none of the three could win a palm of ground, 
but the other two would straightways balance it, either by 
confederation or, if need were, by a war, and would not 
in any wise take up peace at interest. And the like was 
done by that league (which, Guicciardini saith, was the 
security of Italy) made between Ferdinando, King of 
Naples, Lorenzius Medicis, and Ludovicus Sforza, poten- 
tates, the one of Florence, the other of Milan. Neither 
is the opinion of some of the schoolmen to be received, 
" that a war cannot justly be made but upon a precedent 
injury or provocation " ; for there is no question but a 
just fear of an imminent danger, though there be no 
blow given, is a lawful cause of a war. 

For their wives, there are cruel examples of them. 
Livia is infamed for the poisoning of her husband ; Roxo- 
lana, Solyman's wife, was the destruction of that renowned 
prince, Sultan Mustapha, and otherwise troubled his house 



xix] OF EMPIRE 6l 

and succession; Edward II of England his queen had 
the principal hand in the deposing and murder of her 
husband. This kind of danger is then to be feared, chiefly 
when the wives have plots for the raising their own children, 
or else that they be advoutresses. 

For their children, the tragedies likewise of dangers 
from them have been many ; and generally, the entering 
of the fathers into suspicion of their children hath been 
ever unfortunate. The destruction of Mustapha, that we 
named before, was so fatal to Solyman's line, as the 
succession of the Turks, from Solyman until this day, 
is suspected to be untrue and of strange blood ; for that 
Selymus II was thought to be supposititious. The de- 
struction of Crispus, a young prince of rare towardness, by 
Constantinus the Great, his father, was in like manner fatal 
to his house ; for both Constantinus and Constance, his 
sons, died violent deaths ; and Constantius, his other son, 
did little better, who died indeed of sickness, but after 
that Julianus had taken arms against him. The destruc- 
tion of Demetrius, son to. Philip II of Macedon, turned 
upon the father, who died of repentance. And many like 
examples there are ; but few or none where the fathers 
had good by such distrust, except it were where the sons 
were up in open arms against them ; as was Selymus I 
against Bajazet, and the three sons of Henry II, King of 
England. 

For their prelates, when they are proud and great, there 
is also danger from them ; as it was in the times of Ansel- 
mus and Thomas Becket, Archbishops of Canterbury, who 
with their crosiers did almost try it with the king's sword ; 
and yet they had to deal with stout and haughty kings, 



62 BACON'S ESSAYS [xix 

William Rufus, Henry I, and Henry II. The danger is 
not from that. state, but where it hath a dependence of 
foreign authority ; or where the churchmen come in, and 
are elected, not by the collation of the king or particular 
patrons, but by the people. 

For their nobles, to keep them at a distance it is not 
amiss ; but to depress them may make a king more 
absolute, but less safe, and less able to perform anything 
that he desires. I have noted it in my " History of King 
Henry VII of England," who depressed his nobility; 
whereupon it came to pass that his times were full of 
difficulties and troubles ; for the nobility, though they 
continued loyal unto him, yet did they not cooperate with 
him in his business, so that in effect he was fain to do all 
things himself. 

For their second nobles, there is not much danger from 
them, being a body dispersed. They may sometimes 
discourse high, but that doth little hurt ; besides, they are 
a counterpoise to the higher nobility, that they grow not 
too potent ; and lastly, being the most immediate in 
authority with the common people, they do best temper 
popular commotions. 

For their merchants, they are vena porta ; and if they 
flourish not, a kingdom may have good limbs, but will have 
empty veins, and nourish little. Taxes and imposts upon 
them do seldom good to the king's revenue, for that that 
he wins in the hundred he loseth in the shire ; the par- 
ticular rates being increased, but the total bulk of trading 
rather decreased. 

For their commons, there is little danger from them, 
except it be where they have great and potent heads ; or 



xx] OF COUNSEL 63 

where you meddle with the point of religion, or their 
customs, or means of life. 

For their men of war, it is a dangerous state where they 
live and remain in a body, and are used to donatives ; 
whereof we see examples in the Janizaries, and Pretorian 
bands of Rome ; but trainings of men, and arming them 
in several places, and under several commanders, and 
without donatives, are things of defense, and no danger. 

Princes are like to heavenly bodies, which cause good 
or evil times, and which have much veneration, but no 
rest. All precepts concerning kings are in effect compre- 
hended in those two remembrances, Memento quod es 
homo ; and Memento quod es Deus, or vice Dei ; l the one 
bridleth their power, and the other their will. 



XX. OF COUNSEL 



The greatest trust ° between man and man is the trust 
of giving counsel. For in other confidences, men com- 
mit the parts of life; their lands, their goods, their 
children, their credit, some particular affair ; but to such 
as they make their counselors, they commit the whole : 
by how much the more they are obliged ° to all faith 
and integrity. The wisest princes need not think it any 
diminution to their greatness, or derogation to their suf- 
ficiency, to rely upon counsel. God himself is not without, 
but hath made it one of the great names of His blessed 
Son, "the Counselor. " Solomon hath pronounced 
that "in counsel is stability." Things will have their 

1 Remember that you are a man. Remember that you are a god or 
God's representative. 



64 BACON'S ESSAYS [xx 

first or second agitation ; if they be not tossed upon the 
arguments of counsel, they will be tossed upon the waves 
of fortune, and be full of inconstancy, doing and undoing, 
like the reeling of a drunken man. Solomon's son ° 
found the force of counsel, as his father saw the necessity 
of it. For the beloved kingdom of God was first rent 
and broken by ill counsel ; upon which counsel there 
are set for our instruction the two marks whereby bad 
counsel is forever best discerned : that it was young 
counsel, for ° the persons ; and violent counsel, for the 
matter. 

Let us now speak of the inconveniences of counsel, 
and of the remedies. The inconveniences that have 
been noted in calling and using counsel are three : first, 
the revealing of affairs, whereby they become less secret ; 
secondly, the weakening of the authority of princes, as if 
they were less of themselves ; thirdly, the danger of being 
unfaithfully counseled, and more for the good of them 
that counsel, than of him that is counseled. For which 
inconveniences the doctrine of Italy, and practice of 
France, in some kings' times, hath introduced cabinet 
councils, a remedy worse than the disease. 

As to secrecy, princes are not bound to communicate 
all matters with all counselors, but may extract and 
select. Neither is it necessary that he that consulteth 
what he should do should declare what he will do. But 
let princes beware that the unsecreting of their affairs 
comes not from themselves. And as for cabinet councils, 
it may be their motto, Plenus rimarum sum ; 1 one fu- 
tile • person, that maketh it his glory to tell, will do more 

1 I am full of leaks. 



xx] OF COUNSEL 65 

hurt than many that know it their duty to conceal. It is 
true there be some affairs which require extreme secrecy, 
which will hardly go beyond one or two persons besides 
the king. Neither are those counsels unprosperous ; for 
besides the secrecy, they commonly go on constantly in 
one spirit of direction without distraction. But then it 
must be a prudent king, such as is able to grind with 
a hand-mill ;° and those inward* counselors had need 
also be wise men, and especially true and trusty to the 
king's ends; as it was with King Henry VII of England, 
who in his greatest business imparted himself to none, 
except it were to Morton and Fox.° 

For weakening of authority, the fable showeth the 
remedy. Nay, the majesty of kings is rather exalted 
than diminished when they are in the chair of counsel ; 
neither was there ever prince bereaved of his dependencies* 
by his council, except where there hath been either an 
over-greatness in one counselor, or an over-strict com- 
bination in divers ; which are things soon found and 
holpen. 

For the last inconvenience, that men will counsel with 
an eye to themselves, certainly Non inveniet fidem super 
terram x is meant of the nature of times, and not of all 
particular persons. There be that are in nature faithful 
and sincere, and plain and direct, not crafty and involved ; 
let princes above all draw to themselves such natures. 
Besides, counselors are not commonly so united but that 
one counselor keepeth sentinel over another; so that 
if any do counsel out of faction or private ends, it com- 
monly comes to the king's ear. But the best remedy is, 

1 He shall not find faith upon the earth. 



66 BACON'S ESSAYS [xx 

if princes know their counselors, as well as their coun- 
selors know them : 

Principis est virtus maxima nosse stcos. 1 
And on the other side, counselors should not be too 
speculative • into their sovereign's person. The true 
composition of a counselor is rather to be skillful in their 
master's business than in his nature, for then he is like 
to advise him, and not to feed his humor. It is of 
singular use to princes if they take the opinions of their 
council both separately and together; for private opinion 
is more free, but opinion before others is more rever- 
end. In private men are more bold in their own humors, 
and in consort men are more obnoxious • to others' 
humors ; therefore it is good to take both, and of the 
inferior sort, rather in private, to preserve freedom ; of 
the greater, rather in consort, to preserve respect. It is 
in vain for princes to take counsel concerning matters, if 
they take no counsel likewise concerning persons ; for all 
matters are as dead images, and the life of the execution 
of affairs resteth in the good choice of persons. Neither 
is it enough to consult concerning persons, secundum 
genera, as in an idea or mathematical description, what 
the kind and character of the person should be ; for the 
greatest errors are committed, and the most judgment is 
shown, in the choice of individuals. It was truly said, 
optimi consiliarii martui? Books will speak plain when 
counselors blanch. Therefore it is good to be conver- 
sant in them, specially the books of such as themselves 
have been actors upon the stage. 

1 The greatest excellence in a ruler is to know his own subjects. [See 
note.] 2 The dead are the best counselors. 



xx] OF COUNSEL 67 

The councils at this day, in most places, are but familiar 
meetings, where matters are rather talked on than de- 
bated ; and they run too swift to the order or act of 
council. It were better that in causes of weight the 
matter were propounded one day and not spoken to till 
the next day ; in node consilium} So was it done in the 
commission of union between England and Scotland, 
which was a grave and orderly assembly. I commend 
set days for petitions ; for both it gives the suitors more 
certainty for their attendance and it frees the meetings 
for matters of estate that they may hoc agere? In choice 
of committees for ripening business for the council, it 
is better to choose indifferent • persons than to make an 
indifferency by putting in those that are strong on both 
sides. I commend also standing commissions ; as for 
trade, for treasure, for war, for suits, for some prov- 
inces ; • for where there be divers particular councils, 
and but one council of estate, as it is in Spain, they are, in 
effect, no more than standing commissions, save that they 
have greater authority. Let such as are to inform councils 
out of their particular professions, as lawyers, seamen, 
mintmen, and the like, be first heard before committees, 
and then, as occasion serves, before the council. And 
let them not come in multitudes or in a tribunitious 
manner; for that is to clamor councils, not to inform them. 
A long table, and a square table, or seats about the walls, 
seem things of form but are things of substance ; for at a 
long table a few at the upper end, in effect, sway all the 
business, but in the other form there is more use of the 
counselors' opinions that sit lower. A king, when he 
1 In the night there is counsel. [See note.] 2 To do this. [See note.] 



68 BACON'S ESSAYS • [xxi 

presides in council, let him beware how he opens his own 
inclination too much in that which he propoundeth ; for 
else counselors will but take the wind ° of him, and in- 
stead of giving free counsel, sing him a song of placebo} 



XXI. OF DELAYS 



Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you 
can stay a little, the price will fall. And again, it is some- 
times like Sibylla's offer, ° which at first offereth the com- 
modity at full, then consumeth part and part, and still 
holdeth up the price. For "Occasion," as it is in the 
common verse, "turneth a bald noddle, after she hath 
presented her locks in front, and no hold taken " ; or, at 
least, turneth the handle of the bottle first to be received, 
and after the belly, which is hard to clasp. There is surely 
no greater wisdom than well to time the beginnings and 
onsets of things. Dangers are no more light if they once 
seem light ; and more dangers have deceived men than 
forced them. Nay, it were better to meet some dangers 
halfway, though they come nothing near, than to keep 
too long a watch upon their approaches ; for if a man 
watch too long it is odds ' he will fall asleep. On the 
other side, to be deceived with too long shadows, as some 
have been when the moon was low and shone on their 
enemies' back, and so to shoot off before the time ; or to 
teach dangers to come on, by over-early buckling towards 
them, is another extreme. The ripeness or unripeness of 
the occasion, as we said, must ever be well weighed. And 
generally it is good to commit the beginnings of all great 
1 I will please. [See note.] 



xxii] OF CUNNING 69 

actions to Argus with his hundred eyes, and the ends to 
Briareus with his hundred hands, first to watch and then 
to speed. For the helmet of Pluto, which maketh the 
politic man go invisible, is secrecy in the council and 
celerity in the execution. For when things are once come 
to the execution there is no secrecy comparable to 
celerity, like the motion of a bullet in the air, which flieth 
so swift as * it outruns the eye. 



XXII. OF CUNNING 

We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom ; and 
certainly there is great difference between a cunning 
man and a wise man, not only in point of honesty, but in 
point of ability. There be that can pack the cards, and 
yet cannot play well ; so there are some that are good in can- 
vasses and factions, that are otherwise weak men. Again, 
it is one thing to understand persons, and another thing 
to understand matters ; for many are perfect in men's 
humors that are not greatly capable of the real part of 
business, which is the constitution of one that hath stud- 
ied men more than books. Such men are fitter for practice 
than for counsel, and they are good but in their own 
alley ; turn them to new men and they have lost their 
aim ; so as the old rule, to know a fool from a wise man, 
Mitte ambos nudos ad ignotos, et videbisj- doth scarce 
hold for them. And because these cunning men are like 
haberdashers of small wares, it is not amiss to set forth 
their shop. 

It is a point of cunning to wait upon him with whom 
1 Turn them both adrift among strangers, and you shall see. 



yo BACONS ESSAYS [xxn 

you speak with your eye, as the Jesuits give it in precept ; 
for there be many wise men that have secret hearts and 
transparent countenances. Yet this would be done with 
a demure abasing of your eye sometimes, as the Jesuits 
also do use. 

Another is that when you have anything to obtain of 
present dispatch, you entertain and amuse the party 
with whom you deal, with some other discourse, that he 
be not too much awake to make objections. I knew a 
counselor and secretary that never came to Queen Eliza- 
beth of England with bills to sign but he would always 
first put her into some discourse of estate, that she 
mought • the less mind the bills. 

The like surprise may be made by moving things when 
the party is in haste, and cannot stay to consider advis- 
edly of that is moved. 

If a man would cross a business that he doubts some 
other would handsomely and effectually move, let him 
pretend to wish it well, and move it himself in such sort 
as may foil it. 

The breaking off in the midst of that one was about to 
say, as if he took himself up, breeds a greater appetite in 
him with whom you confer, to know more. 

And because it works better when anything seemeth to 
be gotten from you by question than if you offer it of 
yourself, you may lay a bait for a question by showing 
another visage and countenance than you are wont, to 
the end to give occasion for the party to ask what the 
matter is of the change ; as Nehemiah did, " And I had 
not before that time been sad before the king." 

In things that are tender and unpleasing it is good to 



xxn] OF CUNNING 71 

break the ice by some whose words are of less weight, 
and to reserve the more weighty voice to come in as by 
chance, so that he may be asked the question upon the 
other's speech ; as Narcissus did, in relating to Claudius 
the marriage of Messalina and Silius. 

In things that a man would not be seen in himself, it 
is a point of cunning to borrow the name of the world ; 
as to say, "The world says," or, "There is a speech 
abroad." 

I knew one that when he wrote a letter he would put 
that which was most material in the postscript, as if it 
had been a by- matter. 

I knew another that when he came to have speech he 
would pass over that that he intended most, and go forth 
and come back again, and speak of it as a thing that he 
had almost forgot. 

Some procure themselves to be surprised at such times 
as it is like the party that they work upon will suddenly 
come upon them, and to be found with a letter in their 
hand, or doing somewhat which they are not accustomed, 
to the end they may be apposed* of those things which 
of themselves they are desirous to utter. 

It is a point of cunning to let fall those words in a man's 
own name which he would have another man learn and 
use, and thereupon take advantage. I knew two that 
were competitors for the secretary's place in Queen 
Elizabeth's time, and yet kept good quarter between them- 
selves, and would confer one with another upon the busi- 
ness, and the one of them said that to be a secretary in 
the declination of a monarchy was a ticklish thing, and 
that he did not affect • it ; the other straight caught up 



72 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxn 

those words, and discoursed with divers of his friends 
that he had no reason to desire to be secretary in the 
declination of a monarchy. The first man took hold of 
it, and found means it was told the Queen, who hearing 
of a declination of the monarchy, took it so ill as she 
would never after hear of the other's suit. 

There is a cunning which we in England call a the 
turning of the cat° in the pan " ; which is, when that which 
a man says to another, he lays it as if another had said it 
to him ; and to say truth it is not easy, when such a mat- 
ter passed between two, to make it appear from which of 
them it first moved and began. 

It is a way that some men have to glance and dart at 
others by justifying themselves by negatives ; as to say, 
" This I do not," as Tigellinus did towards Burrhus ; Se 
non diversas spes, sed incolumitatem imperatoris simplici- 
ter spec tare} 

Some have in readiness so many tales and stories as 
there is nothing they would insinuate but they can wrap 
it into a tale ; which serveth both to keep themselves more 
in guard, and to make others carry it with more pleasure. 

It is a good point of cunning for a man to shape the 
answer he would have in his own words and propositions, 
for it makes the other party stick the less. 

It is strange how long some men will lie in wait to speak 
somewhat they desire to say ; and how far about they will 
fetch, and how many other matters they will beat over to 
come near it. It is a thing of great patience, but yet of 
much use. 

1 He had no divergent aims, but looked solely to the safety of the 
emperor. — TACITUS, Annals xiv. 57. 



xxin] OF WISDOM FOR A MAN'S SELF 73 

A sudden, bold, and unexpected question doth many 
times surprise a man, and lay him open. Like to him 
that, having changed his name, and walking in Paul's, 
another suddenly came behind him, and called him by 
his true name, whereat straightways he looked back. 

But these small wares and petty points of cunning are 
infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them ; 
for that nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cun- 
ning men pass for wise. 

But certainly some there are that know the resorts and 
falls of business that cannot sink into the main of it, like 
a house that hath convenient stairs and entries, but never 
a fair room. Therefore you shall see them find out 
pretty looses in the conclusion, but are no ways able to 
examine or debate matters. And yet commonly they 
take advantage of their inability, and would be thought 
wits of direction. Some build rather upon the abusing 
of others, and, as we now say, putting tricks upon them, 
than upon soundness of their own proceedings. But Solo- 
mon saith, Prudeiis advertit ad gressus suos : stultus diver- 
tit ad dobs} 



XXIII. OF WISDOM FOR A MAN'S SELF 

An ant is a wise creature for itself, but it is a shrewd" 
thing in an orchard or garden. And certainly men that 
are great lovers of themselves waste the public. Divide 
with reason between self-love and society ; and be so true 
to thyself as thou be not false to others, especially to thy 

1 The wise man looks to his own steps ; the fool turns aside* to 
deceit. — Proverbs xiv. 15. 



74 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxm 

king and country. It is a poor center of a man's actions, 
himself. It is right earth. For that only stands fast 
upon his° own center ; whereas all things that have affinity 
with the heavens move upon the center of another, which 
they benefit. 

The referring of all to a man's self is more tolerable in 
a sovereign prince, because themselves are not only them- 
selves, but their good and evil is at the peril of the public 
fortune. But it is a desperate evil in a servant to a prince, 
or a citizen in a republic. For whatsoever affairs pass 
such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends, 
which must needs be often eccentric* to the ends of his 
master or state. Therefore let princes or states choose 
such servants as have not this mark, except they mean 
their service should be made but the accessory. 

That which maketh the effect more pernicious is that 
all proportion is lost. It were disproportion enough for 
the servant's good to be preferred before the master's ; 
but yet it is a greater extreme when a little good of the 
servant shall carry things against a great good of the 
master's. And yet that is the case of bad officers, 
treasurers, ambassadors, generals, and other false and cor- 
rupt servants ; which set a bias' upon their bowl, of° their 
own petty ends and envies, to the overthrow of their 
master's great and important affairs. And for the most 
part, the good such servants receive is after the model 
of their own fortune ; but the hurt they sell for that good 
is after the model of their master's fortune. And certainly 
it is the nature of extreme self-lovers as ' they will set a 
house on fire, and ■ it were but to roast their eggs. And 
yet these men many times hold credit with their mas- 



xxiv] OF INNOVATIONS 75 

ters, because their study is but to please them, and 
profit themselves ; and for either respect they will aban- 
don the good of their affairs. 

Wisdom for a man's self is, in many branches thereof, 
a depraved thing. It is the wisdom of rats that will be 
sure to leave a house somewhat before it fall. It is the 
wisdom of the fox, that thrusts out the badger who digged 
and made room for him. It is the wisdom of croco- 
diles, that shed tears when they would devour. But that 
which is specially to be noted is, that those which, as 
Cicero says of Pompey, are sui amantes sine riva/i, 1 are 
many times unfortunate And whereas they have all their 
time sacrificed to themselves, they become in the end 
themselves sacrifices to the inconstancy of fortune, whose 
wings they thought by their self-wisdom to have pinioned. 



XXIV. OF INNOVATIONS 

As the births of living creatures at first are ill-shapen,° 
so are all innovations, which are the births of time. Yet, 
notwithstanding, as those that first bring honor into their 
family are commonly more worthy than most that succeed, 
so the first precedent, if it be good, is seldom attained 
by imitation. For ill, to man's nature as it stands per- 
verted, hath a natural motion, strongest in continuance ; 
but good, as a forced motion, strongest at first. Surely 
every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not 
apply new remedies must expect new evils. For time is 
the greatest innovator ; and if time of course alter things 
1 Lovers of themselves without a rival. 



?6 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxiv 

to the worse, and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them 
to the better, what shall be the end ? 

It is true that what is settled by custom, though it be 
not good, yet at least it is fit. And those things which 
have long gone together are, as it were, confederate 
within themselves, whereas new things piece not so well ; 
but though they help by their utility, yet they trouble by 
their inconformity. Besides, they are like strangers, more 
admired and less favored. All this is true if time stood 
still, which contrariwise moveth so round* that a froward 
retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innova- 
tion ; and they that reverence too much old times are but 
a scorn to the new. 

It were good, therefore, that men in their innovations 
would follow the example of time itself, which indeed in- 
novateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be 
perceived. For otherwise, whatsoever is new is unlooked 
for, and ever it mends some and pairs ' others ; and he 
that is holpen takes it for a fortune, and thanks the time ; 
and he that is hurt, for a wrong, and imputeth it to the 
author. 

It is good also not to try experiments in states, except 
the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident ; and well 
to beware that it be the reformation that draweth on the 
change, and not the desire of change that pretendeth the 
reformation. And, lastly, that the novelty, though it be 
not rejected, yet be held for a suspect;' and, as the 
Scripture ° saith, " that we make a stand upon the ancient 
way, and then look about us and discover what is the 
straight and right way, and so to walk in it." 



xxv] OF DISPATCH 77 

XXV. OF DISPATCH 

Affected dispatch is one of the most dangerous things 
to business that can be. It is like that which the phy- 
sicians call predigestion, or hasty digestion, which is sure 
to fill the body full of crudities and secret seeds of dis- 
eases. Therefore measure not dispatch by the times of 
sitting, but by the advancement of the business. And 
as in races, it is not the large stride, or high lift, that 
makes the speed, so in business, the keeping close to the 
matter, and not taking of it too much at once, procureth 
dispatch. It is the care of some only to come off speed- 
ily for the time, or to contrive some false periods of 
business, because • they may seem men of dispatch. But 
it is one thing to abbreviate by contracting, another by 
cutting off; and business so handled at several sittings 
or meetings goeth commonly backward and forward in 
an unsteady manner. I knew a wise man° that had it 
for a byword, when he saw men hasten to a conclusion, 
" Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner." 

On the other side, true dispatch is a rich thing. For 
time is the measure of business, as money is of wares ; 
and business is bought at a dear hand where there is 
small dispatch. The Spartans and Spaniards have been 
noted to be of small dispatch : Mi veiiga la muerte de 
Spagna ; Let my death come from Spain ; for then it 
will be sure to be long in coming. 

Give good hearing to those that give the first infor- 
mation in business, and rather direct them in the begin- 
ning than interrupt them in the continuance of their 
speeches ; for he that is put out of his own order will go 



y8 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxv 

forward and backward, and be more tedious while he 
waits upon his memory, than he could have been if he 
had gone on in his own course. But sometimes it is seen 
that the moderator ° is more troublesome than the actor. 

Iterations are commonly loss of time ; but there is no 
such gain of time as to iterate often the state of the ques- 
tion, for it chaseth away many a frivolous speech as it is 
coming forth. Long and curious ■ speeches are as fit for 
dispatch as a robe or a mantle with a long train is for a 
race. Prefaces, and passages, and excusations, and other 
speeches of reference to the person, are great wastes of 
time ; and though they seem to proceed of modesty, they 
are bravery.' Yet beware of being too material when 
there is any impediment or obstruction in men's wills ; for 
preoccupation of mind ever requireth preface of speech, 
like a fomentation to make the unguent enter. 

Above all things, order, and distribution, and singling 
out of parts, is the life of dispatch ; so as the distribution 
be not too subtle : for he that doth not divide will never 
enter well into business ; and he that divideth too much 
will never come out of it clearly. To choose time is to 
save time ; and an unseasonable motion is but beating 
the air. There be three parts of business — the prep- 
aration, the debate or examination, and the perfection. 
Whereof, if you look for dispatch, let the middle only be 
the work of many, and the first and last the work of few. 
The proceeding upon somewhat* conceived in writing 
doth for the most part facilitate dispatch ; for though it 
should be wholly rejected, yet that negative is more 
pregnant of direction than an indefinite, as ashes are 
more generative than dust. 



xxvi] OF SEEMING WISE 79 

XXVI. OF SEEMING WISE 

It hath been an opinion that the French are wiser 
than they seem, and the Spaniards seem wiser than they 
are. But howsoever it be between nations, certainly it is 
so between man and man. For as the Apostle saith of 
godliness, " having a show of godliness, but denying the 
power thereof," so certainly there are in point of wisdom 
and sufficiency that do nothing or little very solemnly : 
magno conatu nugas} It is a ridiculous thing, and fit 
for a satire to persons of judgment, to see what shifts these 
formalists* have, and what prospectives to make superfi- 
cies to seem body that hath depth and bulk. 

Some are so close and reserved as they will not show 
their wares but by a dark light, and seem always to keep 
back somewhat ; • and when they know within themselves 
they speak of that they do not well know, would neverthe- 
less seem to others to know of that which they may not 
well speak. Some help themselves with countenance and 
gesture, and are wise by signs ; as Cicero saith of Piso,° 
that when he answered him he fetched one of his brows 
up to his forehead and bent the other down to his chin ; 
respondes, altero ad frontem sublato, altero ad mentum 
depresso supercilio, crudelitatem tibi non placere? Some 
think to bear • it by speaking a great word, and being per- 
emptory, and go on and take by admittance that which 
they cannot make good. Some, whatsoever is beyond 

1 Trifles with great effort. 

2 With one brow lifted to your forehead, and the other depressed to 
your chin, you answer that cruelty does not please you. 

— Cicero, In Pisonem vi. 



So BACON'S ESSAYS [xxvn 

their reach, will seem to despise or make light of it as 
impertinent " or curious," and so would have their igno- 
rance seem judgment. Some are never without a differ- 
ence, and commonly, by amusing men with a subtlety, 
blanch ' the matter ; of whom A. Gellius ° saith, Hominen 
delirum, qui verborum minutiis rerum frangit pondera} 
Of which kind also Plato, in his Protagoras? bringeth in 
Prodicus in scorn, and maketh him make a speech that 
consisteth of distinctions from the beginning to the end. 

Generally, such men in all deliberations find ease to be 
of the negative side, and affect a credit to object and fore- 
tell difficulties ; for when propositions are denied, there 
is an end of them, but if they be allowed, it requireth a 
new work ; ° which false point of wisdom is the bane of 
business. 

To conclude, there is no decaying merchant or inward ° 
beggar hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their 
wealth, as these empty persons have to maintain the credit 
of their sufficiency. Seeming wise men may make shift 
to get opinion ; but let no man choose them for employ- 
ment, for certainly you were better take for business a man 
somewhat absurd than over-formal. 



XXVII. OF FRIENDSHIP 

It had been hard for him° that spake it to have put 

more truth and untruth together in few words than in 

that speech, " Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either 

a wild beast or a god." For it is most true that a 

1 A madman who, with fine-spun verbal niceties, fritters away the 
weighty matters of business. 



xxvii] OF FRIENDSHIP 8 1 

natural and secret hatred and aversation* towards society, 
in any man, hath somewhat of the savage beast ; but it is 
most untrue that it should have any character at all of 
the divine nature, except it proceed, not out of a pleasure 
in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a 
man's self for a higher conversation ; ■ such as is found to 
have been falsely and feignedly in some of the heathen, 
as Epimenides the Candian, Numa the Roman, Emped- 
ocles ° the Sicilian, and Apollonius ° of Tyana ; and truly 
and really in divers of the ancient hermits and holy 
fathers of the Church. But little do men perceive what 
solitude is, and how far it extendeth ; for a crowd is not 
company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk 
but a tinkling cymbal where there is no love. The Latin 
adage meeteth* with it a little, Magna civitas, magna 
solitudo ; ] because in a great town friends are scattered, 
so that there is not that fellowship, for the most part, 
which is in less neighborhoods. But we may go further, 
and affirm most truly that it is a mere * and miserable 
solitude to want true friends, without which the world is 
but a wilderness. And even in this sense also of solitude, 
whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is 
unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not 
from humanity. 

A principal fruit of friendship is the ease and discharge 
of the fullness and swellings of the heart, which passions 
of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of 
stoppings and suffocations are the most dangerous in the 
body ; and it is not much otherwise in the mind. You 
may take sarza* to open the liver, steel to open the spleen, 

1 A great city, a great solitude. 



82 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxvn 

flower' of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain; 
but no receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to 
whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspi- 
cions, counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to 
oppress it, in a kind of civil ° shrift or confession. 

It is a strange thing to observe how high a rate great 
kings and monarchs do set upon this fruit of friendship 
whereof we speak; so great as° they purchase it many 
times at the hazard of their own safety and greatness. 
For princes, in regard of the distance of their fortune 
from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather 
this fruit except, to make themselves capable thereof, 
they raise some persons to be, as it were, companions 
and almost equals to themselves, which many times 
sortetrr to inconvenience. The modern languages give 
unto such persons the name of favorites or privadoes, as 
if it were matter of grace or conversation ; but the Roman 
name attaineth the true use and cause thereof, naming 
them participes curarum} for it is that which tieth the 
knot. And we see plainly that this hath been done, 
not by weak and passionate princes only, but by the 
wisest arid most politic that ever reigned ; who have often- 
times joined to themselves some of their servants, whom 
both themselves have called friends and allowed others 
likewise to call them in the same manner, using the word 
which is received between private men. 

L. Sylla,° when he commanded Rome, raised Pompey, 

after surnamed the Great, to that height that Pompey 

vaunted himself for Sylla's over-match. For when he had 

carried the consulship for a friend of his against the pur- 

1 Partakers of cares. [See Essay LV.] 



xxvn] OF FRIENDSHIP 83 

suit of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat and 
began to speak great, Pompey turned upon him again, 
and in effect bade him be quiet, for that more men adored 
the sun rising than the sun setting. With Julius Caesar, 
Decimus Brutus had obtained that interest as he set him 
down in his testament for heir in remainder after his 
nephew. And this was the man that had power with him 
to draw him forth to his death ; for when Caesar would 
have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill presages, 
and especially a dream of Calpurnia, this man lifted him 
gently by the arm out of his chair, telling him he hoped 
he would not dismiss the senate till his wife had dreamed 
a better dream. And it seemeth his favor was so great 
as Antonius, in a letter which is recited verbatim in one 
of Cicero's Philippics, calleth him venefica, witch, as if he 
had enchanted Caesar. Augustus raised Agrippa, though 
of mean birth, to that height, as, when he consulted with 
Maecenas about the marriage of his daughter Julia, 
Maecenas took the liberty to tell him that he "must either 
marry his daughter to Agrippa or take away his life ; there 
was no third way, he had made him so great." With 
Tiberius Caesar, Sejanus had ascended to that height as 
they two were termed and reckoned as a pair of friends. 
Tiberius in a letter to him saith : Hcec pro amicitia 
nostra non occultavi ; l and the whole senate dedicated 
an altar to friendship, as to a goddess, in respect of the 
great dearness of friendship between them two. The like 
or more was between Septimus Severus and Plautianus, 
for he forced his eldest son to marry the daughter of Plau- 
tianus, and would often maintain Plautianus in doing 
1 On account of our friendship I have not concealed these things. 



84 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxvn 

affronts to his son ; and did write also in a letter to the 
senate by these words : " I love the man so well as I wish 
he may over-live me." Now, if these princes had been as 
a Trajan, or a Marcus Aurelius, a man might have thought 
that this had proceeded of an abundant goodness of 
nature ; but being men so wise, of such strength and 
severity of mind, and so extreme lovers of themselves, as 
all these were, it proveth most plainly that they found 
their own felicity, though as great as ever happened to 
mortal men, but as a half-piece, except they might have a 
friend to make it entire. And yet, which is more, they 
were princes that had wives, sons, nephews ; and yet all 
these could not supply the comfort of friendship. 

It is not to be forgotten what Comineus observeth of 
his first master, Duke Charles the Hardy; namely, that 
he would communicate his secrets with none ; and least 
of all, those secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon 
he goeth on, and saith, that towards his latter time "that 
closeness did impair, and a little perish • his understand- 
ing." Surely Comineus moughf have made the same 
judgment also, if it had pleased him, of his second mas- 
ter, Louis XI, whose closeness was indeed his tormentor. 
The parable of Pythagoras is dark but true : Cor ne edito; 
eat not the heart. Certainly, if a man would give it a 
hard phrase, those that want friends to open themselves 
unto are cannibals of their own hearts. But one thing is 
most admirable — wherewith I will conclude this first fruit 
of friendship — which is, that this communicating of a 
man's self to his friend works two contrary effects ; for it 
redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in halves. For there is 
no man that imparteth his joys to his friend but he joyeth 



xxvn] OF FRIENDSHIP 85 

the more ; and no man that imparteth his griefs to his 
friend but he grieveth the less. So that it is, in truth, of 
operation upon a man's mind of like virtue* as the alche- 
mists use* to attribute to their stone for man's body, 
that it worketh all contrary effects, but still to the good and 
benefit of nature. But yet, without praying* in aid of 
alchemists, there is a manifest image of this in the ordi- 
nary course of nature. For in bodies, union strengthen- 
ed and cherisheth any natural action ; and, on the other 
side, weakeneth and dulleth any violent impression ; and 
even so is it of minds. 

The second fruit of friendship is healthful and sov- 
ereign for the understanding, as the first is for the affec- 
tions. For friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the 
affections* from storm and tempests ; but it maketh daylight 
in the understanding, out of darkness and confusion of 
thoughts ; neither is this to be understood only of faith- 
ful counsel, which a man receiveth from his friend. But 
before you come to that, certain it is that whosoever 
hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and 
understanding do clarify and break up° in the commu- 
nicating and discoursing with another : he tosseth his 
thoughts more easily ; he marshalleth them more or- 
derly ; he seeth how they look when they are turned 
into words ; finally, he waxeth wiser than himself, and 
that more by an hour's discourse than by a day's medita- 
tion. It was well said by Themistocles to the King of 
Persia, that "speech was like cloth of Arras, opened and 
put abroad, whereby the imagery doth appear in figure ; 
whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs." Neither 
is this second fruit of friendship, in opening the under- 



86 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxvn 

standing, restrained only to such friends as are able to 
give a man counsel ; they indeed are best, but even with- 
out that, a man learneth of himself and bringeth his own 
thoughts to light, and whetteth his wits as against a stone, 
which itself cuts not. In a word, a man were better re- 
late* himself to a statue or picture than to suffer his 
thoughts to pass in smother.' 

Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship com- 
plete, that other point which lieth more open, and falleth 
within vulgar observation ; which is faithful counsel from 
a friend. Heraclitus ° saith well in one of his enigmas, 
" Dry light ° is ever the best." And certain it is that 
the light that a man receiveth by counsel from another 
is drier and purer than that which cometh from his own 
understanding and judgment, which is ever infused and 
drenched in his affections and customs ; so as • there is 
as much difference between the counsel that a friend 
giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is be- 
tween the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For 
there is no such flatterer as is a man's self; and there 
is no such remedy against flattery of a man's self as the 
liberty of a friend. Counsel is of two sorts ; the one 
concerning manners, the other concerning business. For 
the first, the best preservative to keep the mind in health 
is the faithful admonition of a friend. The calling of a 
man's self to a strict account is a medicine sometimes too 
piercing and corrosive. Reading good books of morality 
is a little flat and dead. Observing our faults in others is 
sometimes unproper ' for our case ; but the best receipt, 
best, I say to work, and best to take, is the admonition 
of a friend. It is a strange thing to behold what gross 



xxvii] OF FRIENDSHIP 87 

errors and extreme absurdities many, especially of the 
greater sort, do commit for want of a friend to tell them 
of them ; to the great damage both of their fame and 
fortune. For as St. James saith, they are as men " that 
look sometimes into a glass, and presently forget their 
own shape and favor.'" As for business, a man may 
think if he will that two eyes see no more than one ; or 
that a gamester seeth always more than a looker-on ; or 
that a man in anger is as wise as he that hath said over 
the four-and-twenty letters ; ° or that a musket may be 
shot off as well upon the arm as upon a rest ; and such 
other fond ° and high imaginations, to think himself all 
in all. But when all is done, the help of good counsel is 
that which setteth business straight. And if any man 
think that he will take counsel, but it shall be by pieces, 
asking counsel in one business of one man, and in an- 
other business of another man, it is well ; that is to say, 
better perhaps than if he asked none at all ; but he run- 
neth two dangers : one, that he shall not be faithfully 
counseled ; for it is a rare thing, except it be from a 
perfect and entire friend, to have counsel given, but such 
as shall be bowed and crooked to some ends which he 
hath that giveth it ; the other, that he shall have counsel 
given, hurtful and unsafe, though with good meaning, 
and mixed partly of mischief and partly of remedy. 
Even as if you would call a physician that is thought 
good for the cure of the disease you complain of, but is 
unacquainted with your body, and therefore may put you 
in way for a present cure, but overthroweth your health 
in some other kind, and so cure the disease and kill the 
patient. But a friend that is wholly acquainted with a 



88 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxvn 

man's estate will beware by furthering any present busi- 
ness how he dasheth upon other inconvenience. And, 
therefore, rest not upon scattered counsels; they will 
rather distract and mislead than settle and direct. 

After these two noble fruits of friendship, peace in the 
affections and support of the judgment, followeth the last 
fruit, which is like the pomegranate, full of many kernels ; 
I mean aid and bearing a part in all actions and occa- 
sions. Here the best way to represent to life ° the mani- 
fold use of friendship is to cast' and see how many things 
there are which a man cannot do himself; and then it 
will appear that it was a sparing speech ° of the ancients 
to say, that "a friend is another himself"; for that a 
friend is far more than himself. Men have their time, 
and die many times in desire of some things which they 
principally take to heart ; the bestowing of a child, the 
finishing of a work, or the like. If a man have a true 
friend he may rest almost secure that the care of those 
things will continue after him. So that a man hath, as it 
were, two lives in his desires. A man hath a body, and 
that body is confined to a place ; but where friendship is, 
all offices of life are, as it were, granted to him and his 
deputy, for he may exercise them by his friend. How 
many things are there which a man cannot with any face 
or comeliness say or do himself! A man can scarce 
allege his own merits with modesty, much less extol 
them ; a man cannot sometimes brook to supplicate or 
beg, and a number of the like. But all these things are 
graceful in a friend's mouth, which are blushing in a 
man's own. So again, a man's person hath many proper 
relations which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak 



xxvin] OF EXPENSE 89 

to his son, but as a father ; to his wife, but as a husband ; 
to his enemy, but upon terms ; ° whereas a friend may 
speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth* with 
the person. But to enumerate these things were endless. 
I have given the rule where a man cannot fitly play his 
own part ; if he have not a friend, he may quit the stage. 



XXVIII. OF EXPENSE 

Riches are for spending, and spending for honor and 
good actions, therefore extraordinary expense must be 
limited by the worth of the occasion ; for voluntary 
undoing may be as well for a man's country as for the 
kingdom of heaven. But ordinary expense ought to be 
limited by a man's estate, and governed with such regard 
as° it be within his compass, and not subject to deceit 
and abuse of servants ; and ordered to the best show, 
that the bills may be less than the estimation abroad. 
Certainly, if a man will keep but of even hand, his 
ordinary expenses ought to be but to the half of his 
receipts ; and if he think to wax rich, but to the third 
part. It is no baseness for the greatest to descend 
and look into their own estate. Some forbear it, not 
upon negligence alone, but doubting to bring themselves 
into melancholy, in respect they shall find it broken. 
But wounds cannot be cured without searching. He 
that cannot look into his own estate at all had need both 
choose well those whom he employeth, and change them 
often ; for new are more timorous and less subtle. He 
that can look into his estate but seldom, it behooveth him 
to turn all to certainties.* A man had need, if he be 



90 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxix 

plentiful in some kind of expense, to be as saving again 
in some other : as, if he be plentiful in diet, to be sav- 
ing in apparel ; if he be plentiful in the hall, to be saving 
in the stable, and the like. For he that is plentiful in 
expenses of all kinds will hardly be preserved from de- 
cay. In clearing* of a man's estate, he may as well 
hurt himself in being too sudden, as in letting it run on 
too long ; for hasty selling is commonly as disadvantage- 
able as interest. Besides, he that clears at once will re- 
lapse ; for finding himself out of straits he will revert to 
his customs : but he that cleareth by degrees induceth a 
habit of frugality, and gaineth as well upon his mind as 
upon his estate. Certainly, who hath a state ■ to repair 
may not despise small things ; and commonly, it is less 
dishonorable to abridge petty charges than to stoop to 
petty gettings. A man ought warily to begin charges 
which, once begun, will continue ; but in matters that 
return not he may be more magnificent. 



XXIX. OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF 
KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 

The speech of Themistocles, the Athenian, which 
was haughty and arrogant in taking so much to himself, 
had been a grave and wise observation and censure, 
applied at large to others. Desired at a feast to touch 
a lute, he said he could not fiddle, but yet he could 
make a small town a great city. These words, holpen a 
little with a metaphor, may express two differing abilities 
in those that deal in business of estate.' For if a true 
survey be taken of counselors and statesmen, there may 



xxix] OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 91 

be found, though rarely, those which can make a small 
state great, and yet cannot fiddle ; ° as, on the other side, 
there will be found a great many that can fiddle very 
cunningly,' but yet are so far from being able to make a 
small state great, as their gift lieth the other way — to 
bring a great and flourishing estate to ruin and decay. 
And certainly those degenerate arts and shifts, whereby 
many counselors and governors gain both favor with 
their masters and estimation with the vulgar, deserve no 
better name than fiddling ; being things rather pleasing 
for the time, and graceful to themselves only, than tend- 
ing to the weal and advancement of the state which they 
serve. There are also, no doubt, counselors and gov- 
ernors which may be held sufficient, negotiis pares} able 
to manage affairs, and to keep them from precipices 
and manifest inconveniences ; which nevertheless are 
far from the ability to raise and amplify an estate in 
power, means, and fortune. But be the workmen what 
they may be, let us speak of the work ; that is, the true 
greatness of kingdoms and estates, and the means there- 
of: an argument' fit for great and mighty princes to have 
in their hand ; to the end that neither by over-measuring 
their forces they lose themselves in vain enterprises, nor, 
on the other side, by undervaluing them they descend to 
fearful and pusillanimous counsels. 

The greatness of an. estate in bulk and territory doth 
fall under measure, and the greatness of finances and 
revenue doth fall under computation. The population 
may appear by musters ; and the number and greatness 
of cities and towns by cards ■ and maps. But yet there is 

1 Equal to their work. [See Essay xxxiii.] 



g2 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxix 

not anything amongst civil affairs more subject to error 
than the right valuation and true judgment concerning 
the power and forces ° of an estate. The kingdom of 
heaven is compared, not to any great kernel or nut, but 
to a grain of mustard seed ; ° which is one of the least 
grains, but hath in it a property and spirit hastily to get 
up and spread. So are there states great in territory, 
and yet not apt ' to enlarge or command ; and some that 
have but a small dimension of stem, and yet apt to be 
the foundations of great monarchies. 

Walled towns, stored arsenals and armories, goodly 
races of horse, chariots of war, elephants, ordnance, artil- 
lery, and the like — all this is but a sheep in a lion's skin, 
except the breed and disposition of the people be stout 
and warlike. Nay, number itself in armies importeth 
not much where the people are of weak courage ; for, as 
Virgil saith, it never troubles a wolf how many the sheep 
be. The army of the Persians, in the plains of Arbela, 
was such a vast sea of people as it did somewhat astonish 
the commanders in Alexander's army ; who came to him, 
therefore, and wished him to set upon them by night ; 
but he answered he would not pilfer the victory ; and the 
defeat was easy. When Tigranes, the Armenian, being 
encamped upon a hill with four hundred thousand men, 
discovered the army of the Romans, being not above 
fourteen thousand, marching toward him, he made him- 
self merry with it, and said, " Yonder men are too many 
for an embassage, and too few for a fight." But before 
the sun set he found them enow to give him the chase 
with infinite slaughter. Many are the examples of the 
great odds between number and courage ; so that a man 



xxix] OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 93 

may truly make a judgment that the principal point of 
greatness in any state is to have a race of military men. 
Neither is money the sinews of war, as it is trivially ' said, 
where the sinews of men's arms, in base and effeminate 
people, are failing ; for Solon said well to Croesus, when 
in ostentation he showed him his gold, " Sir, if any 
other come that hath better iron than you, he will be 
master of all this gold." Therefore let any prince or 
state think soberly of his forces, except his militia of 
natives be of good and valiant soldiers. And let princes, 
on the other side, that have subjects of martial dis- 
position, know their own strength, unless they be other- 
wise wanting unto themselves. As for mercenary forces, 
which is the help in this case, all examples show that 
whatsoever estate or prince doth rest upon them, he may 
spread his feathers for a time, but he will mew them soon 
after. 

The blessing of Judah and Issachar will never meet, 
that the same people or nation should be both the lion's 
whelp and the ass between burdens. Neither will it be 
that a people overlaid with taxes should ever become 
valiant and martial. It is true that taxes levied by 
consent of the estate do abate men's courage less ; as it hath 
been seen notably in the excises of the Low Countries, 
and, in some degree, in the subsidies of England. For 
you must note that we speak now of the heart, and not 
of the purse. So that although the same tribute and tax 
laid by consent, or by imposing, be all one to the purse, 
yet it works diversely upon the courage. So that you 
may conclude that no people overcharged with tribute 
is fit for empire. 



94 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxix 

Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their 
nobility and gentlemen do multiply too fast ; for that 
maketh the common subject grow to be a peasant and base 
swain, driven out of heart, and in effect but the gentle- 
man's laborer. Even as you may see in coppice woods, 
if you leave your staddles " too thick you shall never have 
clean underwood, but shrubs and bushes. So in countries, 
if the gentlemen be too many the commons will be base ; 
and you will bring it to that, that not the hundred • poll 
will be fit for a helmet, especially as to the infantry, which 
is the nerve of an army ; and so there will be great popula- 
tion, and little strength. This which I speak of hath been 
nowhere better seen than by comparing of England and 
France, whereof England, though far less in territory and 
population, hath been, nevertheless, an overmatch ; in re- 
gard the middle people of England make good soldiers, 
which the peasants of France do not. And herein the device 
of King Henry VII,° whereof I have spoken largely in the 
history of his life, was profound and admirable, in making 
farms, and houses of husbandry, of a standard ; that is, 
maintained with such a proportion of land unto them, as 
may breed a subject to live in convenient plenty, and no 
servile condition, and to keep the plow in the hands of the 
owners, and not mere hirelings. And thus indeed you 
shall attain to Virgil's character, which he gives to ancient 
Italy : 

Terra potens armis, atqite ubere glebce. 1 

Neither is that state (which, for anything I know, is 
almost peculiar to England, and hardly to be found any- 

1 A land mighty in arms and in fertility of soil. — ALneid i. 531. 



xxix] OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 95 

where else, except it be, perhaps, in Poland) to be passed 
over ; I mean the state of free servants and attendants 
upon noblemen and gentlemen, which are no ways inferior 
unto the yeomanry for arms. And, therefore, out of all 
question, the splendor and magnificence, and great 
retinues, and hospitality of noblemen and gentlemen, 
received into custom, doth much conduce unto martial 
greatness ; whereas, contrariwise, the close and reserved 
living of noblemen and gentlemen causeth a penury of 
military forces. 

By all means it is to be procured that the trunk of 
Nebuchadnezzar's tree of monarchy be great enough to 
bear the branches and the boughs ; that is, that the 
natural subjects of the crown or state bear a sufficient 
proportion to the stranger subjects that they govern. 
Therefore all states that are liberal of naturalization 
towards strangers are fit for empire. For to think that an 
handful of people can, with the greatest courage and policy 
in the world, embrace too large extent of dominion — it 
may hold for a time, but it will fail suddenly. The Spartans 
were a nice " people in point of naturalization ; whereby, 
while they kept their compass, they stood firm; but 
when they did spread, and their boughs were becomen* 
too great for their stem, they became a windfall upon the 
sudden. Never any state was, in this point, so open to 
receive strangers into their body as were the Romans ; 
therefore it sorted ' with them accordingly, for they grew 
to the greatest monarchy. Their manner was to grant 
naturalization, which they called jus civitatis, 1 and to 
grant it in the highest degree ; that is, not only jus 
1 The right of citizenship. 



96 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxix 

cotnmercii, 1 jus connubii, 2 jus hereditatis? but also jus 
suff?'agii, A and jus honorum h : and this not to singular 
persons alone, but likewise to whole families ; yea, to 
cities, and sometimes to nations. Add to this their custom 
of plantation of colonies, whereby the Roman plant was 
removed into the soil of other nations ; and putting both 
constitutions together, you will say that it was not the 
Romans that spread upon the world, but it was the world 
that spread upon the Romans ; and that was the sure 
way of greatness. I have marveled sometimes at Spain, 
how they clasp and contain so large dominions, with so 
few natural Spaniards; but sure, the whole compass of 
Spain is a very great body of a tree, far above Rome and 
Sparta at the first. And, besides, though they have not 
had that usage to naturalize liberally, yet they have that 
which is next to it ; that is, to employ, almost indifferently, 
all nations in their militia of ordinary soldiers, yea, 
and sometimes in their highest commands. Nay, it 
seemeth this instant they are sensible of this want of 
natives ; as by the pragmatical sanction, now published, 
appeareth. 

It is certain that sedentary and within-door arts, and 
delicate manufactures, that require rather the finger than 
the arm, have in their nature a contrariety to a military 
disposition. And generally all warlike people are a little 
idle, and love danger better than travail ' ; neither must 
they be too much broken of it if they shall be preserved 
in vigor. Therefore it was great advantage in the ancient 

1 The right of commerce. 2 The right of marriage. 

3 The right of inheritance by will. 4 The right of suffrage. 
6 The right of holding public office. 



xxix] OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 97 

states of Sparta, Athens, Rome, and others, that they had 
the use of slaves; which commonly did rid* those 
manufactures. But that is abolished, in greatest part, 
by the Christian law. That which cometh nearest to it 
is to leave those arts chiefly to strangers, which for that 
purpose are the more easily to be received, and to con- 
tain the principal bulk of the vulgar natives within those 
three kinds : tillers of the ground ; free servants ; and 
handicraftsmen of strong and manly arts, as smiths, 
masons, carpenters, etc. ; not reckoning professed soldiers. 
But above all, for empire and greatness, it importeth 
most that a nation do profess arms as their principal 
honor, study, and occupation ; for the things which we 
formerly have spoken of are but habilitations • towards 
arms, and what is habilitation without intention and act? 
Romulus, after his death, as they report or feign, sent a 
present to the Romans that above all they should intend • 
arms, and then they should prove the greatest empire of 
the world. The fabric of the state of Sparta was wholly, 
though not wisely, framed and composed to that scope ' 
and end. The Persians and Macedonians had it for a 
flash.* The Gauls, Germans, Goths, Saxons, Normans, 
and others had it for a time. The Turks have it at this 
day, though in great declination. Of Christian Europe, 
they that have it are in effect only the Spaniards ; but it 
is so plain that every man profiteth in that he most in- 
tendeth, that it needeth not to be stood upon. It is 
enough to point at it, that no nation which doth not 
directly profess arms may look to have greatness fall into 
their mouths. And on the other side, it is a most certain 
oracle of time, that those states that continue long in that 



98 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxix 

profession, as the Romans and Turks principally have 
done, do wonders ; and those that have professed arms but 
for an age have, notwithstanding, commonly attained that 
greatness in that age which maintained them long after, 
when their profession and exercise of arms hath grown to 
decay. 

Incident to this point is for a state to have those laws 
or customs which may reach forth unto them just occa- 
sions, as may be pretended, of war; for there is that 
justice imprinted in the nature of men, that they enter 
not upon wars, whereof so many calamities do ensue, but 
upon some, at the least specious, grounds and quarrels.* 
The Turk hath at hand for cause of war the propagation 
of his law or sect, a quarrel that he may always com- 
mand. The Romans, though they esteemed the extend- 
ing the limits of their empire to be great honor to their 
generals, when it was done, yet they never rested upon 
that alone to begin a war. First, therefore, let nations 
that pretend to greatness have this ; that they be 
sensible of wrongs, either upon borderers, merchants, or 
politic • ministers, and that they sit not too long upon a 
provocation. Secondly, let them be prest • and ready to 
give aids and succors to their confederates, as it ever was 
with the Romans ; insomuch as, if the confederate had 
leagues defensive with divers other states, and upon in- 
vasion offered did implore their aids severally, yet the 
Romans would ever be the foremost, and leave it to none 
other to have the honor. As for the wars which were 
anciently made on the behalf of a kind of party, or tacit 
conformity of estate, I do not see how they may be well 

justified ; as when the Romans made a war for the liberty 

i 7:» : 



xxix] OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 99 

of Graecia ; or when the Lacedaemonians and Athenians 
made wars to set up or pull down democracies and 
oligarchies ; or when wars were made by foreigners 
(under the pretense of justice or protection) to deliver 
the subjects of others from tyranny and oppression, and 
the like. Let it suffice that no estate expect to be great 
that is not awake upon any just occasion of arming. 

No body can be healthful without exercise, neither 
natural body nor politic ; and certainly, to a kingdom or 
estate a just and honourable war is the true exercise. A 
civil war, indeed, is like the heat of a fever ; but a foreign 
war is like the heat of exercise, and serveth to keep the 
body in health ; for in a slothful peace, both courages will 
effeminate and manners corrupt. But howsoever it be 
for happiness, without all question, for greatness it 
maketh to be still for the most part in arms; and the 
strength of a veteran army (though it be a chargeable 
business), always on foot, is that which commonly giveth 
the law, or at least the reputation amongst all neighbor 
states, as may well be seen in Spain, which hath had in 
one part or other a veteran army almost continually now 
by the space of six-score years. 

To be master of the sea is an abridgment of a mon- 
archy. Cicero, writing to Atticus of Pompey his° prep- 
aration against Caesar, saith, Consilium Pompeii plane 
Themistocleum est ; putat enim, qui 77iari potitttr, eum 
rerum potiri} And without doubt Pompey had tired out 
Caesar, if upon vain confidence he had not left that way. 

1 The plan of Pompey is clearly that of Themistocles ; for he believes 
that he who is master of the sea will acquire the mastery of all. 

— Cicero, Ad Att'uum x. 8. 

LOFC. 



IOO BACON'S ESSAYS [xxix 

We see the great effects of battles by sea ; the battle of 
Actium decided the empire of the world; the battle of 
Lepanto arrested the greatness of the Turk. There be 
many examples where sea fights have been final to the 
war ; but this is when princes or states have set up their 
rest ° upon the battles. But thus much is certain, that he 
that commands the sea is at great liberty, and may take 
as much and as little of the war as he will ; whereas those 
that be strongest by land are many times, nevertheless, in 
great straits. Surely, at this day, with us of Europe the 
vantage of strength at sea, which is one of the principal 
dowries of this kingdom of Great Britain, is great, both 
because most of the kingdoms of Europe are not merely 
inland, but girt with the sea most part of their compass ; 
and because the wealth of both Indies seems in great 
part but an accessory to the command of the seas. 

The wars of latter ages seem to be made in the dark, 
in respect of the glory and honor which reflected upon 
men from the wars in ancient time. There be now, 
for martial encouragement, some degrees and orders of 
chivalry, which, nevertheless, are conferred promiscu- 
ously upon soldiers and no soldiers ; and some remem- 
brance perhaps upon the escutcheon, and some hospitals 
for maimed soldiers and such-like things. But in ancient 
times the trophies erected upon the place of the victory, 
the funeral laudatives and monuments for those that died 
in the wars, the crowns and garlands personal, the style ° 
of emperor (which the great kings of the world after 
borrowed), the triumphs of the generals upon their re- 
turn, the great donatives and largesses upon the disband- 
ing of the armies, were things able to inflame all men's 



xxx] OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH ioi 

courages. But, above all, that of the triumph ° among 
the Romans was not pageants or gaudery, but one of the 
wisest and noblest institutions that ever was, for it con- 
tained three things : honor to the general, riches to the 
treasury out of the spoils, and donatives to the army. 
But that honor, perhaps, were not fit for monarchies ; 
except it be in the person of the monarch himself or his 
sons; as it came to pass in the times of the Roman 
emperors, who did impropriate • the actual triumphs to 
themselves and their sons, for such wars as they did 
achieve in person ; and left only, for wars achieved by 
subjects, some triumphal garments and ensigns to the 
general. 

To conclude : no man can by care-taking (as the 
Scripture saith) add a cubit to his stature in this little 
model ° of a man's body ; but in the great frame of king- 
doms and commonwealths it is in the power of princes 
or estates to add amplitude and greatness to their king- 
doms. For by introducing such ordinances, constitu- 
tions, and customs, as we have now touched, they may 
sow greatness to their posterity and succession. But 
these things are commonly not observed, but left to take 
their chance. 

XXX. OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH 

There is a wisdom in this beyond the rules of physic : 
a man's own observation, what he finds good of and what 
he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health. 
But it is a safer conclusion to say, " This agreeth not well 
with me, therefore I will not continue it," than this, " I find 
no offense of this, therefore I may use it." For strength 



102 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxx 

of nature in youth passeth over many excesses which 
are owing a man till his age. Discern of the coming 
on of years, and think not to do the same things still," 
for age will not be defied. Beware of sudden change in 
any great point of diet, and if necessity enforce it° fit the 
rest to it; for it is a secret both in nature and state that 
it is safer to change many things than one. Examine 
thy customs of diet, sleep, exercise, apparel, and the 
like, and try, in anything thou shalt judge hurtful to dis- 
continue it by little and little ; but so as,' if thou dost 
find any inconvenience by the change, thou come back 
to it again ; for it is hard to distinguish that which is 
generally held good and wholesome from that which is 
good particularly, and fit for thine own body. To be 
free-minded and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat 
and of sleep and of exercise is one of the best precepts 
of long lasting. As for the passions and studies of the 
mind, avoid envy, anxious fears, anger, fretting inwards, 
subtle and knotty inquisitions, joys and exhilarations in 
excess, sadness not communicated. Entertain hopes; 
mirth rather than joy ; variety of delights rather than 
surfeit of them ; wonder and admiration (and therefore 
novelties) ; studies that fill the mind with splendid and 
illustrious objects, as histories, fables, and contemplations 
of nature. If you fly physic in health altogether it will 
be too strange for your body when you shall need it. 
If you make it too familiar it will work no extraordinary 
effect when sickness cometh. I commend rather some 
diet for certain seasons, than frequent use of physic, ex- 
cept it be grown into a custom ; for those diets alter the 
body more and trouble it less. Despise no new accident 



xxxi] OF SUSPICION 103 

in your body, but ask opinion of it. In sickness respect 
health principally, and in health action ; for those that 
put their bodies to endure in health, may in most sick- 
nesses which are not very sharp, be cured only with diet 
and tendering.* Celsus could never have spoken it as 
a physician had he not been a wise man withal, when he 
giveth it for one of the great precepts of health and last- 
ing, that a man do vary and interchange contraries, but 
with an inclination to the more benign extreme. Use 
fasting and full eating, but rather full eating ; watching 
and sleep, but rather sleep ; sitting and exercise, but 
rather exercise ; and the like. So shall nature be cher- 
ished, and yet taught masteries. Physicians are some 
of them so pleasing and conformable to the humor of the 
patient, as they press not the true cure of the disease ; 
and some other are so regular in proceeding according 
to art for the disease as they respect not sufficiently the 
condition of the patient. Take one of a middle temper ; 
or if it may not be found in one man, combine two of 
either sort ; and forget not to call as well the best 
acquainted with your body as the best reputed of for his 
faculty. 



XXXI. OF SUSPICION 

Suspicions amongst thoughts are like bats amongst 
birds, they ever fly by twilight. Certainly they are to be 
repressed, or, at the least, well guarded ; for they cloud 
the mind, they lose friends, and they check ■ with busi- 
ness, whereby business cannot go on currently • and con- 
stantly. They dispose kings to tyranny, husbands to 



104 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxi 

jealousy, wise men to irresolution and melancholy. They 
are defects not in the heart, but in the brain, for they 
take place in the stoutest natures, as in the example of 
Henry VII of England. There was not a more suspi- 
cious man nor a more stout. And in such a composi- 
tion they do small hurt, for commonly they are not 
admitted but with examination, whether they be likely or 
no ; but in fearful natures they gain ground too fast. 

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more 
than to know little : and therefore, men should remedy 
suspicion by procuring to know more, and not to keep 
their suspicions in smother.* What would men have? 
Do they think those they employ and deal with are saints? 
Do they not think they will have their own ends, and be 
truer to themselves than to them? Therefore there is 
no better way to moderate suspicions than to account 
upon such suspicions as true, and yet to bridle them as 
false ; for so far a man ought to make use of suspicions 
as to provide as, if that should be true that he suspects, 
yet it may do him no hurt. Suspicions that the mind of 
itself gathers are but buzzes ° ; but suspicions that are 
artificially nourished and put into men's heads by the 
tales and whisperings of others have stings. Certainly 
the best mean to clear the way in this same wood of suspi- 
cions is frankly to communicate them with the party that 
he ° suspects ; for thereby he shall be sure to know more 
of the truth of them than he did before, and withal shall 
make that party more circumspect not to give further 
cause of suspicion. But this would not be done to men 
of base natures ; for they, if they find themselves once 
suspected, will never be true. The Italian says, Sospetto 



xxxn] OF DISCOURSE 105 

licentiafede, 1 as if suspicion did give a passport to faith ; 
but it ought rather to kindle it to discharge itself. 



XXXII. OF DISCOURSE 

Some in their discourse desire rather commendation 
of wit,' in being able to hold all arguments, than of judg- 
ment in discerning what is true ; as if it were a praise to 
know what might be said, and not what should be thought. 
Some have certain commonplaces and themes, wherein 
they are good, and ° want variety ; which kind of poverty 
is for the most part tedious, and, when it is once per- 
ceived, ridiculous. 

The honorablest part of talk is to give the occasion, 
and again to moderate,' and pass to somewhat else ; for 
then a man leads the dance. It is good, in discourse and 
speech of conversation, to vary and intermingle speech 
of the present occasion ° with arguments, tales with rea- 
sons, asking of questions with telling of opinions, and jest 
with earnest; for it is a dull thing to tire, and as we say 
now, to jade,° anything too far. As for jest, there be 
certain things which ought to be privileged from it ; 
namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, any man's 
present business of importance, and any case that de- 
serveth pity. Yet there be some that think their wits have 
been asleep, except they dart out somewhat • that is 
piquant and to the quick ; that is a vein which would be 

bridled. _ ...... , . 

Farce, puer, sttmuhs, et fortius utere torts. 1 

1 Suspicion discharges [i.e. dismisses or banishes] faith. 

2 Boy, spare the spur, and pull harder on the reins. 

— OVID, Metamorphoses ii. 127. 



106 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxn 

And generally, men ought to find the difference between 
saltness and bitterness. Certainly he that hath a satirical 
vein, as he maketh others afraid of his wit, so he had 
need be afraid of others' memory. 

He that questioneth much shall learn much and con- 
tent ° much ; but especially if he apply his questions to 
the skill of the persons whom he asketh. For he shall 
give them occasion to please themselves in speaking, and 
himself shall continually gather knowledge. But let his 
questions not be troublesome, for that is fit for a poser.* 
And let him be sure to leave other men their turns to 
speak. Nay, if there be any that would reign, and take 
up all the time, let him find means to take them off and 
to bring others on j as musicians use* to do with those that 
dance too long galliards.* If you dissemble sometimes 
your knowledge of that ° you are thought to know, you 
shall be thought another time to know that ° you know 
not. Speech of a man's self ought to be seldom, and 
well chosen. I knew one° was wont to say in scorn, 
" He must needs be a wise man, he speaks so much of 
himself." And there is but one case wherein a man may 
commend himself with good grace ; and that is in com- 
mending virtue in another, especially [ if it be such a vir- 
tue whereunto himself pretendeth. Speech of touch ° 
towards others should be sparingly used, for discourse 
ought to be as a field, without corning home to any man. 
I knew two noblemen of the west part of England, 
whereof the one was given to scoff, but kept ever royal 
cheer in his house ; the other would ask of those that had 
been at the other's table, " Tell truly, was there never a 
flout or dry blow given?" To which the guest would 



xxxin] OF PLANTATIONS 107 

answer, such and such a thing passed. The lord would 
say, " I thought he would mar a good dinner." 

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to 
speak agreeably ° to him with whom we deal is more 
than to speak in good words or in good order. A good 
continued speech, without a good speech of interlocution,* 
shows slowness ; and a good reply, or second speech, 
without a good settled speech, showeth shallowness and 
weakness. As we see in beasts, that those that are weak- 
est in the course are yet nimblest in the turn, as it is be- 
twixt the greyhound and the hare. To use too many 
circumstances • ere one come to the matter is wearisome ; 
to use none at all is blunt. 



XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS 

Plantations are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroi- 
cal works. When the world was young it begat more 
children, but now it is old it begets fewer ; for I may 
justly account new plantations to be the children of for- 
mer kingdoms. I like a plantation in a pure soil — that 
is, where people are not displanted to the end to plant 
in others ; for else it is rather an extirpation than a plan- 
tation. Planting of countries is like planting of woods, 
for you must make account to lose almost twenty years' 
profit, and expect your recompense in the end ; for the 
principal thing that hath been the destruction of most 
plantations, hath been the base and hasty drawing of 
profit in the first years. It is true, speedy profit is not to 
be neglected, as far as may stand with the good of the 
plantation, but no further. It is a shameful and unblessed 



108 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxm 

thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned 
men to be the people with whom you plant; and not 
only so, but it spoileth the plantation, for they will ever 
live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and do 
mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and 
then certify • over to their country to the discredit of the 
plantation. The people wherewith you plant ought to be 
gardeners, plowmen, laborers, smiths, carpenters, join- 
ers, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, sur- 
geons, cooks, and bakers. 

In a country of plantation, first look about what kind 
of victual the country yields of itself to hand, as chestnuts, 
walnuts, pineapples, olives, dates, plums, cherries, wild 
honey, and the like, and make use of them. Then con- 
sider what victual or esculent things there are which grow 
speedily and within the year, as parsnips, carrots, turnips, 
onions, radish, artichokes of Jerusalem, maize, and the 
like. For wheat, barley, and oats, they ask too much 
labor, but with peas and beans you may begin, both 
because they ask less labor, and because they serve for 
meat as well as for bread. And of rice likewise cometh 
a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. Above all, 
there ought to be brought store of biscuit, oatmeal, flour, 
meal, and the like in the beginning, till bread may be 
had. For beasts or birds, take chiefly such as are least 
subject to diseases and multiply fastest, as swine, goats, 
cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, house doves, and the like. 
The victual in plantations ought to be expended almost 
as in a besieged town, that is, with certain allowance. 
And let the main part of the ground employed to gar- 
dens or corn, be to a common stock, and to be laid in 



xxxin] OF PLANTATIONS 109 

and stored up, and then delivered out in proportion; 
besides some spots of ground that any particular person 
will manure for his own private. 

Consider likewise what commodities the soil where the 
plantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way 
help to defray the charge of the plantation, so it be not, 
as was said, to the untimely prejudice of the main busi- 
ness, as it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. Wood 
commonly aboundeth but too much, and therefore tim- 
ber is fit to be one. If there be iron ore and streams 
whereupon to set the mills, iron is a brave commodity 
where wood aboundeth. Making of bay salt ° if the cli- 
mate be proper for it, would be put in experience. 
Growing silk likewise, if any be, is a likely commodity. 
Pitch and tar, where store of firs and pines are, will not 
fail. So drugs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot 
but yield great profit; soap ashes, likewise, and other 
things that may be thought of. But moil not too much 
under ground, for the hope of mines is very uncertain, 
and useth to make the planters lazy in other things. 

For government, let it be in the hands of one assisted 
with some counsel, and let them have commission to 
exercise martial laws with some limitation. And above 
all, let men make that profit of being in the wilderness, as 
they have God always and His service before their eyes. 
Let not the government of the plantation depend upon 
too many counselors and undertakers in the country 
that planteth, but upon a temperate number; and let 
those be rather noblemen and gentlemen than merchants ; 
for they look ever to the present gain. Let there be 
freedoms from custom till the plantation be of strength ; 



110 BACONS ESSAYS [xxxm 

and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to 
carry their commodities where they may make their best 
of them, except there be some special cause of caution. 

Cram not in people by sending too fast company after 
company, but rather hearken how they waste, and send 
supplies proportionably ; but so as the number may live 
well in the plantation, and not by surcharge be in penury. 
It hath been a great endangering to the health of some 
plantations that they have built along the sea and rivers 
in marsh and unwholesome grounds. Therefore, though 
you begin there, to avoid carriage and other like discom- 
modities, yet build still rather upwards from the streams 
than along. It concerneth likewise the health of the 
plantation that they have good store of salt with them, 
that they may use it in their victuals when it shall be 
necessary. 

If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain 
them with trifles and gingles, but use them justly and 
graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless ; and do not 
win their favor by helping them to invade their enemies, 
but for their defense it is not amiss. And send oft of 
them over to the country that plants, that they may see 
a better condition than their own, and commend it when 
they return. 

When the plantation grows to strength, then it is time 
to plant with women as well as men, that the plantation 
may spread into generations, and not be ever pieced from 
without. It is the sinfulest thing in the world to forsake 
or destitute a plantation once in forwardness, for, besides 
the dishonor, it is the guiltiness of blood of many corn- 
miserable persons. 



xxxiv] OF RICHES III 



XXXIV. OF RICHES 

I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue. 
The Roman word is better, impedimenta, for as the 
baggage is to an army so are riches to virtue. It cannot 
be spared, nor left behind, but it hindereth the march ; 
yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the 
victory. 

Of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the 
distribution ; the rest is but conceit. So saith Solomon, 
"Where much is,° there are many to consume it; and 
what hath the owner but the sight of it with his eyes?" 
The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to feel 
great riches ; there is a custody of them, or a power of 
dole • and donative of them, or a fame of them, but no 
solid use to the owner. Do you not see what feigned 
prices are set upon little stones and rarities? And what 
works of ostentation are undertaken, because* there 
might seem to be some use in great riches? But then 
you will say, they may be of use, to buy men out of dan- 
gers or troubles. As Solomon saith,° " Riches are as a 
stronghold in the imagination of the rich man." But 
this is excellently expressed, that it is in imagination, and 
not always in fact. For certainly great riches have sold 
more men than they have bought out. 

Seek not proud riches, but such as thou mayest get 
justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave content- 
edly. Yet have no abstract* or friarly contempt of them, 
but distinguish, as Cicero saith well of Rabirius Posthu- 
mus, In studio rei amplificandce. apparebat, non avaritice 



112 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxiv 

prcedarn, sed instrumentum bonitati quceri} Hearken 
also to Solomon, and beware of hasty gathering of riches : 
Qui festinat ad divitias, non erit insons? The poets 
feign that when Plutus, which is riches, is sent from 
Jupiter, he limps and goes slowly, but when he is sent 
from Pluto, he runs and is swift of foot ; meaning that 
riches gotten by good means and just labor pace slowly, 
but when they come by the death of others, as by the 
course of inheritance, testaments, and the like, they come 
tumbling upon a man. But it moughf be applied like- 
wise to Pluto, taking him for the devil. For when riches 
come from the devil, as by fraud, and oppression, and 
unjust means, they come upon speed. 

The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul. 
Parsimony is one of the best, and yet is not innocent ; for 
it withholdeth men from works of liberality and charity. 
The improvement of the ground is the most natural 
obtaining of riches, for it is our great mother's blessing, 
the earth's ; but it is slow. And yet, where men of great 
wealth do stoop to husbandry, it multiplieth riches 
exceedingly. I knew a nobleman in England that had 
the greatest audits* of any man in my time : a great 
grazier, a great sheep master, a great timber man, a great 
collier, a great corn master, a great lead man, and so of 
iron, and a number of the like points of husbandry ; so 
as the earth seemed a sea to him, in respect of the 
perpetual importation. It was truly observed by one, 

1 It was apparent that in his anxiety to increase his riches he sought 
not the satisfaction of avarice, but the means of doing good. 

— CICERO, Pro Rabirio ii. 

2 He who makes haste after riches will not be without guilt. 

— Proverbs xxviii. 



xxxiv] OF RICHES 113 

that himself came very hardly to a little riches, and very 
easily to great riches. For when a man's stock is come 
to that, that he can expect" the prime of markets, and over- 
come * those bargains, which for their greatness are few 
men's money, and be partner in the industries of younger 
men, he cannot but increase mainly.' 

The gains of ordinary trades and vocations are honest, 
and furthered by two things, chiefly ; by diligence, and 
by a good name for good and fair dealing. But the 
gains of bargains are of a more doubtful nature, when 
men should wait upon others' necessity; broke* by 
servants and instruments to draw them on ; put off others 
cunningly that would be better chapmen* ; and the like 
practices, which are crafty and naught.' As for the 
chopping • of bargains, when a man buys, not to hold, 
but to sell over again, that commonly grindeth double, 
both upon the seller, and upon the buyer. Sharings do 
greatly enrich, if the hands be well chosen that are 
trusted. Usury is the certainest means of gain, though 
one of the worst, as that whereby a man doth eat his 
bread in sudore vultus alieni j 1 and besides, doth 
plow upon Sundays. But yet, certain though it be, it 
hath flaws, for that the scriveners and brokers do value 
unsound men, to serve their own turn. 

The fortune in being the first in an invention, or in 
a privilege, doth cause sometimes a wonderful over- 
growth in riches, as it was with the first sugar-man in 
the Canaries. Therefore, if a man can play the true 
logician, to have as well judgment as invention, he may 
do great matters, especially if the times be fit. He that 

1 In the sweat of another's brow. Cf. Genesis iii. 10. 



114 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxiv 

resteth upon gains certain shall hardly grow to great 
riches. And he that puts all upon adventures, doth 
oftentimes break, and come to poverty ; it is good there- 
fore to guard adventures with certainties that may uphold 
losses. Monopolies, and coemption of wares for resale, 
where they are not restrained, are great means to enrich ; 
especially if the party have intelligence what things are 
like to come into request, and so store himself beforehand. 

Riches gotten by service, though it be of the best rise, 
yet when they are gotten by flattery, feeding humors, and 
other servile conditions, they may be placed among the 
worst. As for fishing for testaments and executorships, 
as Tacitus saith of Seneca, Testamenta et orbos tanqua?n 
indagine capi} it is yet worse, by how much men submit 
themselves to meaner persons than in service. 

Believe not much them that seem to despise riches, for 
they despise them that despair of them ; and none worse 
when they come to them. Be not penny-wise ; riches 
have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, 
sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more. Men 
leave their riches either to their kindred, or to the public ; 
and moderate portions prosper best in both. A great 
estate left to an heir is as a lure to all the birds of prey 
round about to seize on him, if he be not the better 
established in years and judgment. Likewise, glorious 
gifts and foundations ° are like sacrifices without salt, and 
but the painted sepulchers of alms, which soon will putrefy 
and corrupt inwardly. Therefore measure not thine 
advancements by quantity, but frame them by measure ; 
and defer not charities till death, for certainly, if a man 
1 Wills and childless parents taken as with a net. 



xxxv] OF PROPHECIES 115 

weigh it rightly, he that doth so, is rather liberal of another 
man's than of his own. 



XXXV. OF PROPHECIES 

I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor of hea- 
then oracles, nor of natural predictions, but only of proph- 
ecies that hath been of certain memory, and from hidden 
causes. Saith the Pythonissa to Saul, " To-morrow thou 
and thy sons shall be with me." Homer hath these 

verses : 

At domus ALneas cunctis dominabitur oris, 
Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab Mis. 1 

A prophecy, as it seems, of the Roman Empire. Seneca 
the Tragedian hath these verses : 

Venient annis 
Scecula seris, quibus oceanus 
Vinculo, rerum laxet, et ingens 
Pateat tellus, Tiphysque novos 
Detegat orbes ; nee sit terris 
Ultima Thule:" 1 

a prophecy of the discovery of America. The daughter 
of Polycrates dreamed that Jupiter bathed her father, 
and Apollo anointed him ; and it came to pass that he 
was crucified in an open place, where the sun made his 
body run with sweat, and the rain washed it. A phan- 
tasm that appeared to M. Brutus in his tent said to him, 

1 The house of ^Eneas shall rule in every land, and his children's 
children, and those who shall spring from them. — Iliad xx. 307, 8. 

2 In later ages the times shall come when Ocean shall relax the 
bounds of the world, and the vast earth shall lie revealed, and Tiphys 
shall disclose new worlds, and Thule be no longer the limit of all lands. 



Il6 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxv 

Philippis iterum me videbis} Tiberius said to Galba, 
Tu quoque, Galba, degustabis imperium. 2 In Vespasian's 
time there went a prophecy in the East that those that 
should come forth of Judea should reign over the world ; 
which though it may be was meant of our Savior, yet 
Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian. Domitian dreamed, 
the night before he was slain, that a golden head was 
growing out of the nape of his neck; and indeed the 
succession that followed him for many years made gol- 
den times. Henry VI of England said of Henry VII, 
when he was a lad, and gave him water, " This is the lad 
that shall enjoy the crown for which we strive." When 
I was in France, 1 heard from one Dr. Pena that the 
queen-mother, who was given to curious arts, caused the 
king her husband's nativity to be calculated under a 
false name ; and the astrologer gave a judgment that he 
should be killed in a duel, at which the queen laughed, 
thinking her husband to be above challenges and duels ; 
but he was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the 
staff of Montgomery going in at his beaver. The trivial 
prophecy which I heard when I was a child, and Queen 
Elizabeth was in the flower of her years, was, 

" When hempe is spun, 
England's donne; " 

whereby it was generally conceived that after the princes 
had reigned which had the principal letters of that word 
hempe (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and 
Elizabeth), England should come to utter confusion; 
which, thanks be to God, is verified only in the change of 

1 Thou shalt see me again at Philippi. 

2 Thou, too, Galba. shalt have a taste of empire. 



xxxv] OF PROPHECIES Ii; 

the name, for that the king's style is now no more of 
England, but of Britain. There was also another proph- 
ecy before the year eighty-eight, which I do not well 
understand : 

" There shall be seen upon a day, 
Between the Baugh and the May, 
The black fleet of Norway. 
When that is come and gone, 
England, build houses of lime and stone, 
For after wars shall you have none." 

It was generally conceived to be meant of the Spanish 
fleet that came in eighty-eight; for that the King of 
Spain's surname, as they say, is Norway. The prediction 
of Regiomontanus, 

Octogesimus octavus mirabilis annus} 

was thought likewise accomplished in the sending of that 
great fleet, being the greatest in strength, though not in 
number, of all that ever swam upon the sea. As for 
Cleon's dream, I think it was a jest ; it was that he was 
devoured of a long dragon, and it was expounded of a 
maker of sausages that troubled him exceedingly. There 
are numbers of the like kind, especially if you include 
dreams and predictions of astrology. But I have set 
down these few only of certain credit, for example. 

My judgment is that they ought all to be despised, and 
ought to serve but for winter talk by the fireside; though 
when I say despised, I mean it as for belief; for otherwise 
the spreading or publishing of them is in no sort to be 
despised, for they have done much mischief. And I see 

1 The eighty- eighth year shall be remarkable. 



Il8 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxvi 

many severe laws made to suppress them. That that 
hath given them grace, and some credit, consisteth in 
three things : first, that men mark when they hit, and 
never mark when they miss, as they do generally, also, of 
dreams. The second is, that probable conjectures, or ob- 
scure traditions, many times turn themselves into proph- 
ecies ; while the nature of man, which coveteth divina- 
tion, thinks it no peril to foretell that which indeed they 
do but collect,* as that of Seneca's verse. For so much 
was then subject to demonstration that the globe of the 
earth had great parts beyond the Atlantic, which might 
be probably conceived not to be all sea ; and adding 
thereto the tradition in Plato's Timaeus and his Atlanticus, 
it might encourage one to turn it to a prediction. The 
third and last, which is the great one, is, that almost all 
of them, being infinite in number, have been impostures, 
and by] idle and crafty brains merely contrived and 
feigned after the event passed. 



XXXVI. OF AMBITION 

Ambition is like choler, which is a humor that maketh 
men active, earnest, full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not 
stopped. But if it be stopped, and cannot have his* way, 
it becometh adust,* and thereby malign and venomous. 
So ambitious men, if they find the way open for their ris- 
ing, and still* get forward, they are rather busy than dan- 
gerous ; but if they be checked in their desires they 
become secretly discontent, and look upon men and mat- 
ters with an evil eye,° and are best pleased when things 



xxxvi] OF AMBITION 119 

go backward ; which is the worst property in a servant of 
a prince or state. Therefore it is good for princes, if they 
use ambitious men, to handle it so as* they be still' pro- 
gressive and not retrograde ; which, because it cannot be 
without inconvenience, it is good not to use such natures 
at all. For if they rise not with their service they will 
take. order to make their service fall with them. 

But since we have said it were good not to use men of 
ambitious natures, except it be upon necessity, it is fit we 
speak in what cases they are of necessity. Good com- 
manders in the wars must be taken, be they never so 
ambitious, for the use of their service dispenseth with 
the rest ; and to take a soldier without ambition is to pull 
off his spurs. There is also great use of ambitious men in 
being screens to princes in matters of danger and envy; for 
no man will take that part except he be like a seeled 
dove, that mounts, and mounts, because he cannot see 
about him. There is use also of ambitious men in pull- 
ing down the greatness of any subject that overtops ; as 
Tiberius used Macro in the pulling down of Sejanus. 

Since, therefore, they must be used in such cases, there 
resteth* to speak how they are to be bridled, that they 
may be less dangerous. There is less danger of them 
if they be of mean birth than if they be noble ; and if they 
be rather harsh of nature than gracious and popular; and 
if they be rather new raised than grown cunning and 
fortified in their greatness. It is counted by some a weak- 
ness in princes to have favorites ; but it is, of all others, 
the best remedy against ambitious great ones. For when 
the way of pleasuring and displeasuring lieth by the 
favorite, it is impossible any other should be over-great. 



120 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxvi 

Another means to curb them is to balance them by others 
as proud as they. /But then there must be some middle 
counselors to keep- things steady, for without that ballast 
the ship will roll too much. At the least, a prince may 
animate and inure some meaner persons to be, as it were, 
scourges to ambitious men. As for the having of them ob- 
noxious* to ruin, if they be of fearful natures it may do 
well ; but if they be stout and daring it may precipitate 
their designs and prove dangerous. As for the pulling of 
them down, if the affairs require it, and that it may not be 
done with safety suddenly, the only way is the interchange 
continually of favors and disgraces, whereby they may not 
know what to expect, and be, as it were, in a wood. 

Of ambitions, it is less harmful, the ambition to prevail 
in great things than that other, to appear in everything ; 
for that breeds confusion, and mars business ; but yet it 
is less danger to have an ambitious man stirring in busi- 
ness than great in dependencies.* He that seeketh to 
be eminent amongst able men hath a great task; but that 
is ever good for the public. But he that plots to be the 
only figure amongst ciphers is the decay of a whole age. 

Honor hath three things in it : the vantage ground to 
do good ° ; the approach to kings and principal persons ; 
and the raising of a man's own fortunes. He that hath 
the best of these intentions, when he aspireth, is an honest 
man ; and that prince that can discern of these intentions 
in another that aspireth, is a wise prince. Generally, let 
princes and states choose such ministers as are more 
sensible of duty than of rising, and such as love business 
rather upon conscience than upon bravery ■ ; and let them 
discern a busy nature from a willing mind. 



xxxvn] OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS 12 1 

XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS 

These things are but toys to come amongst such serious 
observations ; but yet, since princes will have such things, 
it is better they should be graced with elegancy than 
daubed with cost. Dancing to song is a thing of great 
state and pleasure. I understand it that the song be in 
choir, placed aloft, and accompanied with some broken 
music, and the ditty fitted to the device. Acting in song, 
especially in dialogues, hath an extreme good grace ; I 
say acting, not dancing (for that is a mean and vulgar 
thing), and the voices of the dialogue would be strong 
and manly, a bass and a tenor, no treble ; and the ditty 
high and tragical, not nice or dainty. Several choirs 
placed one over against another, and taking the voice by 
catches, anthem-wise, give great pleasure. Turning dances 
into figure is a childish curiosity. And, generally, let it 
be noted that those things which I here set down are such 
as do naturally take the sense, and not respect* petty 
wonderments. It is true the alterations of scenes, so it 
be quietly and without noise, are things of great beauty 
and pleasure, for they feed and relieve the eye before it 
be full of the same object. Let the scenes abound with 
light, specially colored and varied ; and let the masquers, 
or any other that are to come down from the scene, have 
some motions upon the scene itself before their coming 
down ; for it draws the eye strangely, and makes it with 
great pleasure to desire to see that it cannot perfectly 
discern. Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not 
chirpings or pulings ; let the music likewise be sharp and 
loud, and well placed. The colors that show best by 



122 BACONS ESSAYS [xxxvil 

candlelight are white, carnation, and a kind of sea water 
green; and oes* or spangs,* as they are of no great cost, 
so they are of most glory. As for rich embroidery, it 
is lost and not discerned. Let the suits of the masquers 
be graceful, and such as become the person when the 
vizards are off; not after examples of known attires — 
Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let antimasques 
not be long ; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs, 
baboons, wild men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, 
Ethiopes, pygmies, turquets, nymphs, rustics, cupids, 
statues moving, and the like. As for angels, it is not 
comical enough to put them in antimasques, and anything 
that is hideous, as devils, giants, is, on the other side, as 
unfit. But, chiefly, let the music of them be recreative 
and with some strange changes. Some sweet odors sud- 
denly coming forth, without any drops falling, are in such 
a company as there is steam and heat, things of great 
pleasure and refreshment. Double masques, one of men, 
another of ladies, addeth state and variety. But all is 
nothing, except the room be kept clear and neat. 

For jousts, and tourneys, and barriers, the glories of 
them are chiefly in the chariots wherein the challengers 
make their entry ; especially if they be drawn with strange 
beasts, as lions, bears, camels, and the like ; or in the de- 
vices of their entrance ; or in the bravery of their liveries ; 
or in the goodly furniture of their horses and armor. But 
enough of these toys. 



xxxvm] OF NATURE IN MEN 1 23 

XXXVIII. OF NATURE IN MEN 

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom 
extinguished. Force maketh nature more violent in 
the return ; doctrine and discourse maketh nature less 
importune* j but custom only doth alter and subdue 
nature. 

He that seeketh victory over his nature, let him not set 
himself too great nor too small tasks ; for the first will 
make him dejected by often failings, and the second will 
make him a small proceeder, though by often prevailings. 
And at the first let him practice with helps, as swimmers 
do with bladders or rushes ; but after a time let him 
practice with disadvantages, as dancers do with thick 
shoes; for it breeds great perfection if the practice be 
harder than the use.' 

Where nature is mighty, and therefore the victory 
hard, the degrees had need be, first, to stay and arrest 
nature in time ; like to him that would say over the four- 
and-twenty letters when he was angry : then to go less in 
quantity, as if one should, in forbearing wine, come from 
drinking healths to a draught at a meal, and, lastly, to dis- 
continue altogether. But if a man have the fortitude and 
resolution to enfranchise himself at once, that is the best ; 

Optimus Me animi vindex, Icedentia pectus 
Vinculo, qui rupit, dedoluitque seme/. 1 

Neither is the ancient rule amiss, to bend Nature as a 
wand to a contrary extreme, whereby to set it right ; 

1 He is the best liberator of the spirit who bursts from his breast the 
galling chains and ceases once for all to grieve. 

— Ovid, Remedia Amoris, 294. 



124 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxvm 

understanding it where the contrary extreme is no 
vice. 

Let not a man force a habit upon himself with a per- 
petual continuance, but with some intermission. For 
both the pause reinforceth the new onset, and if a man 
that is not perfect be ever in practice, he shall as well 
practice his errors as his abilities, and induce one habit 
of both; and there is no means to help this but by 
seasonable intermissions. 

But let not a man trust his victory over his nature too 
far ; for nature will lay° buried a great time, and yet re- 
vive upon the occasion or temptation. Like as it was 
with y£sop's° damsel, turned from a cat to a woman, who 
sat very demurely at the board's end till a mouse ran 
before her. Therefore let a man either avoid the occa- 
sion altogether, or put himself often to it, that he may be 
little moved with it. 

A man's nature is best perceived in privateness, for 
there is no affectation ; in passion, for that putteth a man 
out of his precepts ; and in a new case or experiment, for 
there custom leaveth him. 

They are happy men whose natures sort* with their 
vocations ; otherwise they may say, Multum incola fuit 
anima mea, 1 when they converse in those things they 
do not affect.* In studies, whatsoever a man command- 
eth° upon himself, let him set hours for it; but whatso- 
ever is agreeable to his nature let him take no care for 
any set times; for his thoughts will fly to it of them- 
selves, so as • the spaces of other business or studies will 
suffice. 

1 My soul has sojourned long. — Psalms cxx. 6. 



xxxix] OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION 125 

A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds ; there- 
fore let him seasonably water the one and destroy the 
other. 



XXXIX. OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION 

Men's thoughts are much according to their inclina- 
tion ; their discourse and speeches according to their 
learning and infused opinions ; but their deeds are after 
as° they have been accustomed. And therefore, as 
Machiavel well noteth (though in an evil-favored ° in- 
stance), there is no trusting to the force of Nature, nor 
to the bravery of words, except it be corroborate by 
custom. His instance is, that for the achieving of a 
desperate conspiracy, a man should not rest upon the 
fierceness of any man's nature, or his resolute undertak- 
ings, but take such a one as hath had his hands formerly 
in blood. But Machiavel knew not of a friar Clement, 
nor a Ravaillac, nor a Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar 
Gerard ° ; yet his rule holdeth still,' that nature nor the 
engagement of words are not so forcible as custom. 
Only superstition is now so well advanced that men of 
the first blood ° are as firm as butchers by occupation ; 
and votary resolution is made equipollent to custom, 
even in matter of blood. In other things, the predomi- 
nancy of custom is everywhere visible ; insomuch as a 
man would wonder to hear men profess, protest, engage, 
give great words, and then do just as they have done be- 
fore, as if they were dead images and engines moved 
only by the wheels of custom. 

We see also the reign or tyranny of custom, what it is. 



126 BACON'S ESSAYS [xxxix 

The Indians (I mean the sect of their wise men) lay 
themselves quietly upon a stack of wood, and so sacrifice 
themselves by fire. Nay, the wives strive to be burned 
with the corpses of their husbands. The lads of Sparta, 
of ancient time, were wont to be scourged upon the altar 
of Diana without so much as queching.' I remember, in 
the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's time of England, an 
Irish rebel, condemned, put up a petition to the deputy 
that he might be hanged in a withe and not in a halter, 
because it had been so used with former rebels. There 
be monks in Russia, for penance, that will sit a whole 
night in a vessel of water, till they be engaged ° with 
hard ice. 

Many examples may be put of the force of custom, 
both upon mind and body. Therefore, since custom is 
the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all 
means endeavor to obtain good customs. Certainly cus- 
tom is most perfect when it beginneth in young years ; 
this we call education, which is, in effect, but an early 
custom. So we see, in languages the tongue is more 
pliant to all expressions and sounds, the joints are more 
supple to all feats of activity and motions in youth than 
afterwards. For it is true that late learners cannot so 
well take the ply, except it be in some minds that have 
not suffered themselves to fix, but have kept themselves 
open and prepared to receive continual amendment; 
which is exceeding rare. 

But if the force of custom, simple and separate, be 
great, the force of custom copulate and conjoined and 
collegiate," is far greater. For there example teacheth, 
company comforteth, emulation quickeneth, glory raiseth ; 



xl] OF FORTUNE 1 27 

so as' in such places the force of custom is in his* exalta- 
tion/ Certainly, the great multiplication of virtues upon 
human nature resteth upon societies well ordained and 
disciplined ; for commonwealths and good governments 
do nourish virtue grown, but do not much mend the 
seeds. But the misery is, that the most effectual means 
are now applied to the ends least to be desired. 



XL. OF FORTUNE 

It cannot be denied but ° outward accidents conduce 
much to fortune; favor, opportunity, death of others, 
occasion fitting virtue.* But chiefly, the mold of a man's 
fortune is in his own hands. Faber quisque fortunce 
suce, 1 saith the poet. And the most frequent of ex- 
ternal causes is, that the folly of one man is the fortune 
of another; for no man prospers so suddenly as by 
others' errors. Serpens nisi serpentem comederit non fit 
draco? 

Overt and apparent virtues bring forth praise, but there 
be secret and hidden virtues that bring forth fortune ; 
certain deliveries* of a man's self which have no name. 
The Spanish name, disemboltura? partly expresseth 
them, when there be not stonds* nor restiveness in a 
man's nature, but that the wheels of his mind keep way 
with the wheels of his fortune. For so Livy — after he 
had described Cato Major in these words, in illo viro, 
tantum robur corporis et animi fuit, ut quocunque 

1 Every one is the architect of his own fortune. 

2 The serpent without swallowing the serpent cannot become the 
dragon. 



128 BACON'S ESSAYS [xl 

loco natus esset,fortunam sibi facturus videretur 1 — falleth 
upon that, that he had versatile ingenium? Therefore, if 
a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see fortune ; 
for though she be blind, yet she is not invisible. The 
way of fortune is like the milken way in the sky, which 
is a meeting or knot of a number of small stars, not seen 
asunder, but giving light together. So are there a 
number of little and scarce discerned virtues, or rather 
faculties and customs, that make men fortunate. The 
Italians note some of them, such as a man would little 
think. When they speak of one that cannot do amiss, 
they will throw in into his other conditions that he hath 
poco di matto. 3 And certainly, there be not two more 
fortunate properties than to have a little of the fool and 
not too much of the honest. Therefore extreme lovers 
of their country or masters were never fortunate ; neither 
can they be, for when a man placeth his thoughts with- 
out himself he goeth not his own way. 

A hasty fortune maketh an enterpriser and remover ; 
the French hath it better, entreprenant, or remnant ; but 
the exercised fortune maketh the able man. Fortune is 
to be honored and respected, and' it be but for her 
daughters, Confidence and Reputation. For those two 
felicity breedeth ; the first within a man's self, the latter 
in others towards him. 

All wise men, to decline* the envy of their own virtues, 
use* to ascribe them to Providence and fortune; for so 

1 In this man there was so much vigor of body and mind that, what- 
ever might have been his birth, it appeared certain that he would have 
made a fortune for himself. 

2 A versatile mind. 

3 A little of the fool. 



xli] OF USURY 129 

they may the better assume them, and besides it is great- 
ness in a man to be the care of the higher powers. So 
Caesar said to the pilot in the tempest, Ccesarem portas, 
et fortunam ejus} So Sylla chose the name oifelix 2 and 
not of magnus* ; and it hath been noted that those that 
ascribe openly too much to their own wisdom and policy, 
end infortunate. It is written that Timotheus the 
Athenian, after he had, in the account he gave to the 
state of his government, often interlaced this speech, 
"And in this fortune had no part," never prospered in 
anything he undertook afterwards. 

Certainly there be whose fortunes are like Homer's 
verses, that have a slide and easiness more than the 
verses of other poets; as Plutarch saith of Timoleon's 
fortune, in respect of that of Agesilaus or Epaminondas. 
And that this should be, no doubt it is much in a man's 
self. 



XLI. OF USURY 



Many have made witty invectives against usury. They 
say that it is pity the devil should have God's part, which 
is the tithe ; that the usurer is the greatest Sabbath breaker, 
because his plow goeth every Sunday ; that the usurer 
is the drone that Virgil speaketh of: 

Ignavum fucos pecus a prczsepibus arcent ; 4 

/hat the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for man- 
kind after the fall, which was In sudore vultus tut comedes 

1 You have as passengers Caesar and his fortune. 

2 Fortunate. s Great. 
4 The lazy swarm of drones they drive from their hives. 



130 BACON'S ESSAYS [xli 

pattern tuum, not in sudore vultus alieni; x that usurers should 
have orange-tawny bonnets, because they do Judaize ; 
that it is against nature for money to beget money ; and 
the like. I say this only, that usury is a concessum propter 
duritiem cordis; - for since there must be borrowing and 
lending, and men are so hard of heart as they will not 
lend freely, usury must be permitted. Some others have 
made suspicious and cunning propositions of banks, dis- 
covery of men's estates, and other inventions ; but few 
have spoken of usury usefully. It is good to set before 
us the incommodities and commodities of usury, that the 
good may be either weighed out or culled out; and 
warily to provide that, while we make forth to that which 
is better, we meet not with that which is worse. 

The discommodities of usury are, first, that it makes 
fewer merchants ; for were it not for this lazy trade of 
usury, money would not lie still, but would in great part be 
employed upon merchandising, which is the vena porta 
of wealth in a state. The second, that it makes poor mer- 
chants ; for as a farmer cannot husband his ground so 
well if he sit at a great rent, so the merchant cannot drive 
his trade so well if he sit at great usury. The third is 
incident to the other two, and that is, the decay of customs 
of kings, or states, which ebb or flow with merchandising. 
The fourth, that it bringeth the treasure of a realm or state 
into a few hands j for the usurer being at certainties and 
others at uncertainties, at the end of the game most of the 
money will be in the box ; and ever a state flourisheth when 

1 In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread ; not in the 
sweat of another's brow. 

2 A concession on account of hardness of heart. 



xli] OF USURY 131 

wealth is more equally spread. The fifth, that it beats 
down the price of land ; for the employment of money 
is chiefly either merchandising or purchasing, and usury 
waylays both. The sixth, that it doth dull and damp all 
industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein 
money would be stirring, if it were not for this slug. The 
last, that it is the canker and ruin of many men's estates, 
which in process of time breeds a public poverty. 

On the other side, the commodities of usury are, first, 
that howsoever usury in some respect hindereth mer- 
chandising, yet in some other it advanceth it ; for it is 
certain that the greatest part of trade is driven by 
young merchants, upon borrowing at interest; so as if 
the usurer either call in or keep back his money, there will 
ensue presently a great stand of trade. The second is, 
that were it not for this easy borrowing upon interest, 
men's necessities would draw upon them a most sudden 
undoing, in that they would be forced to sell their means, 
be it lands or goods, far under foot, and so, whereas usury 
doth but gnaw upon them, bad markets would swallow 
them quite up. As for mortgaging or pawning, it will 
little mend the matter ; for either men will not take pawns 
without use, or if they do, they will look precisely for the 
forfeiture. I remember a cruel moneyed man in the 
country that would say, " The devil take this usury, it 
keeps us from forfeitures of mortgages and bonds." The 
third and last is, that it is a vanity to conceive that there 
would be ordinary borrowing without profit, and it is im- 
possible to conceive the number of inconveniences that 
will ensue if borrowing be cramped. Therefore to speak 
of the abolishing of usury is idle. All states have ever 



132 BACON'S ESSAYS [xli 

had it in one kind or rate, or other ; so as that opinion 
must be sent to Utopia. 

To speak now of the reformation and reglement of 
usury, how the discommodities of it may be best avoided 
and the commodities retained. It appears by the balance 
of commodities and discommodities of usury, two things 
are to be reconciled ; the one, that the tooth of usury be 
grinded that it bite not too much ; the other, that there 
be left open a means to invite moneyed men to lend to 
the merchants, for the continuing and quickening of trade. 
This cannot be done except you introduce two several 
sorts of usury, a less and a greater. For if you reduce 
usury to one low rate it will ease the common borrower, 
but the merchant will be to seek for money. And it is to 
be noted that the trade of merchandise, being the most 
lucrative, may bear usury at a good rate ; other contracts 
not so. 

To serve both intentions the way would be briefly thus : 
that there be two rates of usury j the one free and general 
for all, the other under license only to certain persons, 
and in certain places of merchandising. First, therefore, 
let usury in general be reduced to five in the hundred ; 
and let that rate be proclaimed to be free and current ; 
and let the state shut itself out to take any penalty for the 
same. This will preserve borrowing from any general 
stop or dryness ; this will ease infinite borrowers in the 
country ; this will in good part raise the price of land, 
because land purchased at sixteen years' purchase will 
yield six in the hundred and somewhat more, whereas 
this rate of interest yields but five ; this, by like reason, 
will encourage and edge industrious and profitable im- 



xli] OF USURY 133 

provements, because many will rather venture in that 
kind than take five in the hundred, especially having been 
used to greater profit. Secondly, let there be certain 
persons licensed to lend to known merchants upon usury 
at a higher rate, and let it be with the cautions following. 
Let the rate be, even with the merchant himself, some- 
what more easy than that he used formerly to pay, for by 
that means all borrowers shall have some ease by this 
reformation, be he merchant or whosoever. Let it be no 
bank, or common stock, but every man be master of his 
own money. Not that I altogether mislike banks, but 
they will hardly be brooked in regard of certain suspicions. 
Let the state be answered some small matter for the 
license, and the rest left to the lender ; for if the abate- 
ment be but small, it will no whit discourage the lender. 
For he, for example, that took before ten or nine in the 
hundred, will sooner descend to eight in the hundred than 
give over his trade of usury, and go from certain gains to 
gains of hazard. Let these licensed lenders be in number 
indefinite, but restrained to certain principal cities and 
towns of merchandising, for then they will be hardly able 
to color other men's moneys in the country; so as the 
license of nine will not suck away the current rate of 
five ; for no man will send his moneys far off, nor put 
them into unknown hands. 

If it be objected that this doth in a sort authorize 
usury, which before was in some places but permissive, 
the answer is, that it is better to mitigate usury by decla- 
ration than to suffer it to rage by connivance. 



134 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlii 

XLII. OF YOUTH AND AGE 

A man that is young in years may be old in hours ° if 
he have lost no time. But that happeneth rarely. Gen- 
erally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the 
second ; for there is a youth in thoughts as well as in ages. 
And yet the invention ° of young men is more lively than 
that of old ; and imaginations stream into their minds 
better and, as it were, more divinely. 

Natures that have much heat, and great and violent 
desires and perturbations, are not ripe for action till they 
have passed the meridian of their years ; as it was with 
Julius Caesar and Septimius Severus, of the latter of whom 
it is said, juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus, ple- 
nam. 1 And yet he was the ablest emperor almost of all 
the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth, as it 
is seen in Augustus Caesar, Cosmus, Duke of Florence, 
Gaston de Fois,° and others. 

On the other side, heat and vivacity in age is an excel- 
lent composition for business. Young men are fitter to 
invent than to judge, fitter for execution than for counsel, 
and fitter for new projects than for settled business. For 
the experience of age, in things that fall within the com- 
pass of it, directeth them ; but in new things abuseth them. 

The errors of young men are the ruin of business ; but 
the errors of aged men amount but to this, that more 
might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the 
conduct and manage of actions, embrace more than they 
can hold ; stir more than they can quiet ; fly to the end, 
without consideration of the means and degrees ; pursue 

1 He passed his youth full of errors, even of madness. 



xlii] OF YOUTH AND AGE 135 

some few principles, which they have chanced upon, ab- 
surdly ° ; care not to innovate, which draws unknown in- 
conveniences ; use extreme remedies at first ; and (that 
which doubleth all errors) will not acknowledge or re- 
tract them ; like an unready* horse, that will neither stop 
nor turn. 

Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure 
too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business 
home to the full period, ' but content themselves with a 
mediocrity of success. 

Certainly it is good to compound employments of both. 
For that will be good for the present, because the virtues* 
of either age may correct the defects of both ; and good 
for succession, that young men may be learners, while 
men in age are actors ; and, lastly, good for extern ac- 
cidents, because authority followeth old men, and favor 
and popularity youth. 

But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have the 
preeminence, as age hath for the politic. A certain 
Rabbin, upon the text, "Your young men shall see 
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams," inferreth 
that young men are admitted nearer to God than old, 
because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream. And 
certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world the more 
it intoxicateth ; and age doth profit rather in the powers 
of understanding than in the virtues of the will and 
affections. 

There be some have an over-early ripeness in their 
years, which fadeth betimes ; these are, first, such as 
have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned ; such 
as was Hermogenes, the rhetorician, whose books are 



136 BACON'S ESSAYS [xliii 

exceeding subtle, who afterwards waxed stupid. A sec- 
ond sort is of those that have some natural dispositions, 
which have better grace in youth than in age ; such as is 
a fluent and luxuriant speech, which becomes youth well, 
but not age. So Tully saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat 
neque idem decebat. 1 The third is of such as take too 
high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous, more 
than tract of years can uphold ; as was Scipio Africanus, 
of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant? 



XLIII. OF BEAUTY 

Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set ; and surely 
virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of 
delicate features ; and that hath rather dignity of pres- 
ence than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen 
that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue, 
as if Nature were rather busy not to err than in labor to 
produce excellency. And therefore they prove accom- 
plished, but not of great spirit, and study rather behavior 
than virtue. But this holds not always ; for Augustus 
Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Bel of France, Edward 
IV of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael, the Sophy 
of Persia, were all high and great spirits, and yet the 
most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favor 
is more than that of color ; and that of decent and gracious 
motion more than that of favor. That is the best part of 
beauty which a picture cannot express — no, nor the first 

1 He remained the same, but this was not so seemly [as he advanced 
in years]. 

2 The end did not equal the beginning. [See note.] 



xliv] OF DEFORMITY 1 37 

sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty that hath 
not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot 
tell whether Apelles or Albert Diirer were the more tri- 
fler ; whereof the one would make a personage by geo- 
metrical proportions, the other, by taking the best parts 
out of divers faces to make one excellent. Such person- 
ages, I think, would please nobody but the painter that 
made them. Not but I think a painter may make a bet- 
ter face than ever was ; but he must do it by a kind of 
felicity, as a musician that maketh an excellent air in 
music, and not by rule. A man shall see faces that, if 
you examine them part by part, you shall find never a 
good, and yet all together do well. If it be true that the 
principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it 
is no marvel, though persons in years seem many times 
more amiable; Pulchrorum aututnnus pulcher ; x for no 
youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the 
youth as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as sum- 
mer fruits, which are easy to corrupt and cannot last ; 
and, for the most part, it makes a dissolute youth, and 
an age a little out of countenance ; but yet certainly, 
again, if it light well, it maketh virtues shine and vices 
blush. 



XLIV. OF DEFORMITY 

Deformed persons are commonly even with nature, 

for as nature hath done ill by them so do they by nature, 

being for the most part, as the Scripture saith, " void of 

natural affection"; and so they have their revenge of 

1 The autumn of beautiful things [or persons] is beautiful. 



138 BACON'S ESSAYS [xliv 

nature. Certainly there is a consent between the body 
and the mind, and where nature erreth in the one she 
ventureth in the other ; Ubi peccat in uno, periclitatur in 
altero. But because there is in man an election, touch- 
ing the frame of his mind, and a necessity in the frame 
of his body, the stars of natural inclination are sometimes 
obscured by the sun of discipline and virtue. Therefore 
it is good to consider of deformity, not as a sign which 
is more deceivable, but as a cause which seldom faileth 
of the effect. 

Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person that 
doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in 
himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn ; there- 
fore all deformed persons are extreme bold ; first, as 
in their own defense, as being exposed to scorn, but in 
process of time by a general habit. Also it stirreth in 
them industry, and especially of this kind, to watch and 
observe the weakness of others, that they may have some- 
what to repay. Again, in their superiors it quencheth 
jealousy towards them, as persons that they think they 
may at pleasure despise ; and it layeth their competitors 
and emulators asleep, as never believing they should be 
in possibility of advancement till they see them in pos- 
session. So that, upon the matter, in a great wit deform- 
ity is an advantage to rising. Kings in ancient times, 
and at this present in some countries, were wont to put 
great trust in eunuchs, because they that are envious 
towards all are more obnoxious* and officious* towards 
one. But yet their trust towards them hath rather been 
as to good spials and good whisperers than good magis- 
trates and officers. And much like is the reason of de- 



xlv] OF BUILDING 1 39 

formed persons. Still the ground is, they will, if they be 
of spirit, seek to free themselves from scorn, which must 
be either by virtue or malice. And therefore let it not be 
marveled if sometimes they prove excellent persons, as 
was Agesilaus, Zanger, the son of Solyman, ^Esop, Gasca, 
president of Peru ; and Socrates may go likewise amongst 
them, with others. 

XLV. OF BUILDING 

Houses are built to live in, and not to look on ; there- 
fore let use be preferred before uniformity, except where 
both may be had. Leave the goodly fabrics of houses for 
beauty only, to the enchanted palaces of the poets, who 
build them with small cost. He that builds a fair house 
upon an ill seat committeth himself to prison. Neither 
do I reckon it an ill seat only where the air is unwhole- 
some, but likewise where the air is unequal ; as you shall 
see many fine seats set upon a knap of ground environed 
with higher hills round about it, whereby the heat of the 
sun is pent in, and the wind gathereth as in troughs, so 
as you shall have, and that suddenly, as great diversity of 
heat and cold as if you dwelt in several places. Neither 
is it ill air only that maketh an ill seat, but ill ways, ill 
markets ; and, if you will consult with Momus,° ill neigh- 
bors. I speak not of many more, — want of water, want 
of wood, shade, and shelter, want of fruitfulness, and mix- 
ture of grounds of several natures ; want of prospect, want 
of level grounds, want of places at some near distance for 
sports of hunting, hawking, and races ; too near the sea, 
too remote ; having the commodity of navigable rivers, or 
the discommodity of their overflowing ; too far off from 



140 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlv 

great cities, which may hinder business ; or too near them, 
which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything 
dear ; where a man hath a great living laid together, and 
where he is scanted ; all which, as it is impossible perhaps 
to find together, so it is good to know them, and think of 
them, that a man may take as many as he can ; and if he 
have several dwellings, that he sort them so that what he 
wanteth in the one he may find in the other. Lucullus an- 
swered Pompey well, who, when he saw his stately gal- 
leries and rooms, so large and lightsome, in one of his 
houses, said, " Surely an excellent place for summer, but 
how do you in winter ?" Lucullus answered, "Why, do 
you not think me as wise as some fowls are, that ever 
change their abode towards the winter?"- 

To pass from the seat to the house itself, we will do as 
Cicero doth in the orator's art, who writes books De 
Oratore, and a book he entitles Orator; whereof the 
former delivers the precepts of the art, and the latter 
the perfection. We will therefore describe a princely 
palace, making a brief model thereof. For it is strange 
to see, now in Europe, such huge buildings as the Vatican 
and Escurial and some others be, and yet scarce a very 
fair room in them. 

First, therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace, 
except you have two several sides ; a side for the banquet, 
as is spoken of in the book of Hester, and a side for the 
household ; the one for feasts and triumphs, and the other 
for dwelling. I understand both these sides to be not 
only returns, but parts of the front ; and to be uniform 
without, though severally partitioned within ; and to be on 
both sides of a great and stately tower, in the midst of the 



xlv] OF BUILDING 141 

front, that, as it were, joineth them together on either 
hand. I would have on the one side of the banquet, in 
front, one only goodly room above stairs, of some forty 
foot high ; and under it a room for a dressing or prepar- 
ing place, at times of triumphs. On the other side, which 
is the household side, I wish it divided at the first into a 
hall and a chapel, with a partition between, both of good 
state and bigness ; and those not to go all the length, but 
to have at the further end a winter and a summer parlor, 
both fair ; and under these rooms a fair and large cellar 
sunk under ground ; and likewise some privy kitchens, 
with butteries and pantries, and the like. As for the 
tower, I would have it two stories of eighteen foot high 
apiece, above the two wings, and a goodly leads' upon 
the top, railed, with statues interposed ; and the same 
tower to be divided into rooms, as shall be thought fit. 
The stairs likewise to the upper rooms, let them be upon 
a fair open newel, and finely railed in, with images of 
wood cast into a brass color ; and a very fair landing place 
at the top. But this to be, if you do not point any of 
the lower rooms for a dining-place of servants, for other- 
wise you shall have the servants' dinner after your own, 
for the steam of it will come up as in a tunnel. And so 
much for the front ; only, I understand the height of the 
first stairs to be sixteen foot, which is the height of the 
lower room. 

Beyond this front is there to be a fair court, but three 
sides of it of a far lower building than the front. And in 
all the four corners of that court, fair staircases cast into 
turrets on the outside, and not within the row of buildings 
themselves ; but those towers are not to be of the height 



142 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlv 

of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower build- 
ing. Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a 
great heat in summer, and much cold in winter ; but only 
some side alleys, with a cross, and the quarters to graze, 
being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of 
return on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries ; 
in which galleries let there be three, or five, fine cupolas 
in the length of it, placed at equal distance, and fine 
colored windows of several works. On the household 
side, chambers of presence and ordinary entertainments, 
with some bed chambers ; and let all three sides be a double 
house, without thorough 'lights on the sides, that you may 
have rooms from the sun, both for forenoon and afternoon. 
Cast* it also that you may have rooms both for summer 
and winter, shady for summer, and warm for winter. 
You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass that 
one cannot tell where to become to be out of the sun or 
cold. For imbowed windows, I hold them of good use 
(in cities, indeed, upright do better, in respect of the 
uniformity towards the street), for they be pretty retiring 
places for conference ; and besides, they keep both the 
wind and sun off, for that which would strike almost 
thorough* the room doth scarce pass the window. But 
let them be but few, four in the court, on the sides only. 
Beyond this court let there be an inward court, of the 
same square and height, which is to be environed with 
the garden on all sides ; and in the inside cloistered on 
all sides upon decent and beautiful arches, as high as the 
first story. On the under story, towards the garden, let 
it be turned to a grotto, or place of shade or estivation ; 
and only have opening and windows towards the garden, 



xlv] OF BUILDING 143 

and be level upon the floor, no whit sunk under ground, 
to avoid all dampishness. And let there be a fountain, 
or some fair work of statues, in the midst of this court, and 
to be paved as the other court was. These buildings to 
be for privy lodgings on both sides, and the end for 
privy galleries, whereof you must foresee that one of them 
be for an infirmary, if the prince or any special person 
should be sick, with chambers, bed chamber, antecam- 
era and recamera joining to it. This upon the second 
story. Upon the ground story, a fair gallery, open, upon 
pillars ; and upon the third story, likewise, an open gal- 
lery upon pillars, to take the prospect and freshness of 
the garden. At both corners of the further side, by way 
of return, let there be two delicate or rich cabinets, dain- 
tily paved, richly hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, 
and a rich cupola in the midst, and all other elegancy 
that may be thought upon. In the upper gallery, too, 
I wish that there may be, if the place will yield it, some 
fountains running in divers places from the wall, with 
some fine avoidances. And thus much for the model of 
the palace, save that you must have, before you come to 
the front, three courts ; a green court plain, with a wall 
about ; a second court of the same, but more garnished 
with little turrets, or rather embellishments, upon the 
wall ; and a third court, to make a square with the front, 
but not to be built, nor yet inclosed with a naked wall, 
but inclosed with terraces, leaded aloft, and fairly gar- 
nished on the three sides ; and cloistered on the inside 
with pillars, and not with arches below. As for offices, 
let them stand at distance, with some low galleries to 
pass from them to the palace itself. 



144 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlvi 

XLVI. OF GARDENS 

God Almighty first planted a garden ; and indeed it is 
the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refresh- 
ment to the spirits of man, without which buildings and 
palaces are but gross handiworks ; and a man shall ever 
see that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men 
come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely, as if 
gardening were the greater perfection. I do hold it, in 
the royal ordering of gardens, there ought to be gardens 
for all the months in the year, in which, severally, things 
of beauty may be then in season. For December and 
January, and the latter part of November, you must take 
such things as are green all winter : holly, ivy, bays, Juni- 
per, cypress trees, yew, pineapple trees, fir trees, rose- 
mary, lavender; periwinkle, the white, the purple, and 
the blue ; germander, flags, orange trees, lemon trees, 
and myrtles, if they be stoved ; and sweet marjoram, 
warm set. There followeth for the latter part of January 
and February the mezerion tree, which then blossoms ; 
crocus vernus, both the yellow and the gray ; primroses, 
anemones, the early tulip, hyacinthus orientalis, chamairis, 
frettellaria. For March, there come violets, especially 
the single blue, which are the earliest ; the yellow daffo- 
dil, the daisy, the almond tree in blossom, the peach 
tree in blossom, the cornelian tree in blossom, sweetbrier. 
In April follow the double white violet, the wallflower, the 
stock gilliflower, the cowslip, flower-de-luces, and lilies of 
all natures, rosemary flowers, the tulip, the double peony, 
the pale daffodil, the French honeysuckle, the cherry tree 
in blossom, the damascene and plum trees in blossom, 



xlvi] OF GARDENS 145 

the whitethorn in leaf, the lilac tree. In May and June 
come pinks of all sorts, especially the blush pink ; roses 
of all kinds, except the musk, which comes later ; honey- 
suckles, strawberries, bugloss, columbine, the French 
marigold, flos Africanus, cherry tree in fruit, ribes, figs in 
fruit, rasps, vine flowers, lavender in flowers, the sweet 
satyrian with the white flower; herba muscaria, lilium 
convallium, the apple tree in blossom. In July come gil- 
liflowers of all varieties, musk roses, the lime tree in blos- 
som, early pears and plums in fruit, ginnitings, quadlins. 
In August come plums of all sorts in fruit, pears, apricocks, 
barberries, filberts, musk melons, monkshoods of all col- 
ors. In September come grapes, apples, poppies of all 
colors, peaches, melocotones, nectarines, cornelians, war- 
dens, quinces. In October and the beginning of Novem- 
ber, come services, medlars, bullaces, roses cut or removed 
to come late, holly oaks, and such like. These particu- 
lars are for the climate of London ; but my meaning is 
perceived that you may have ver perpetuum, as the place 
affords. 

And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter in the 
air, where it comes and goes like the warbling of music, 
than in the hand, therefore nothing is more fit for that 
delight than to know what be the flowers and plants that 
do best perfume the air. Roses, damask and red, are 
fast flowers of their smells ; so that you may walk by a 
whole row of them, and find nothing of their sweetness, 
yea, though it be in a morning's dew. Bays likewise 
yield no smell as they grow, rosemary little, nor sweet 
marjoram. That which above all others yields the sweet- 
est smell in the air is the violet, especially the white 



146 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlvi 

double violet, which comes twice a year, about the mid- 
dle of April, and about Bartholomew-tide ; next to that 
is the musk rose ; then the strawberry leaves dying, with 
a most excellent cordial smell; then the flower of the 
vines — it is a little dust, like the dust of a bent, which 
grows upon the cluster in the first coming forth ; then 
sweetbrier; then wallflowers, which are very delightful 
to be set under a parlor, or lower chamber window ; then 
pinks and gilliflowers, especially the matted pink and 
clove gilliflower ; then the flowers of the lime tree ; then 
the honeysuckles, so they be somewhat afar oft*. Of bean 
flowers I speak not, because they are field flowers. But 
those which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed 
by as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are 
three, that is, burnet, wild thyme, and water mints ; there- 
fore you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleas- 
ure when you walk or tread. 

For gardens, speaking of those which are indeed 
princelike, as we have done of buildings, the contents 
ought not well to be under thirty acres of ground, and to 
be divided into three parts ; a green in the entrance, a 
heath or desert in the going forth, and the main garden 
in the midst, besides alleys on both sides. And I like 
well that four acres of ground be assigned to the green, 
six to the heath, four and four to either side, and twelve 
to the main garden. The green hath two pleasures : the 
one, because nothing is more pleasant to the eye than 
green grass kept finely shorn ; the other, because it will 
give you a fair alley in the midst, by which you may go 
in front upon a stately hedge which is to inclose the 
garden. But because the alley will be long, and in great 



xlvi] OF GARDENS 147 

heat of the year or day, you ought not to buy the shade 
in the garden by going in the sun thorough the green ; 
therefore you are, of either side the green, to plant a 
covert alley upon carpenters' work, about twelve foot in 
height, by which you may go in shade into the garden. 
As for the making of knots or figures with divers colored 
earths, that they may lie under the windows of the house 
on that side which the garden stands, they be but toys ; 
you may see as good sights many times in tarts. The 
garden is best to be square, encompassed on all the four 
sides with a stately arched hedge, the arches to be upon 
pillars of carpenters' work of some ten foot high and six 
foot broad, and the spaces between of the same dimension 
with the breadth of the arch. Over the arches let there 
be an entire hedge of some four foot high, framed also 
upon carpenters' work ; and upon the upper hedge, over 
every arch a little turret, with a belly enough to receive a 
cage of birds ; and over every space between the arches, 
some other little figure, with broad plates of round colored 
glass gilt, for the sun to play upon ; but this hedge I in- 
tend to be raised upon a bank, not steep, but gently slope, 
of some six foot, set all with flowers. Also I understand 
that this square of the garden should not be the whole 
breadth of the ground, but to leave on either side ground 
enough for diversity of side alleys, unto which the two 
covert alleys of the green may deliver you ; but there 
must be no alleys with hedges at either end of this great 
inclosure; not at the hither end for letting* your pros- 
pect upon this fair hedge from the green ; nor at the 
further end for letting your prospect from the hedge 
through the arches upon the heath. 



148 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlvi 

For the ordering of the ground within the great hedge, 
I leave it to variety of device, advising, nevertheless, that 
whatsoever form you cast it into, first it be not too busy 
or full of work, wherein I, for my part, do not like images 
cut out in juniper or other garden stuff; they be for 
children. Little low hedges round like welts, with some 
pretty pyramids, I like well, and in some places, fair 
columns upon frames of carpenters' work. I would also 
have the alleys spacious and fair. You may have closer 
alleys upon the side grounds, but none in the main garden. 
I wish also, in the very middle, a fair mount, with three 
ascents and alleys, enough for four to walk abreast, which 
I would have to be perfect circles without any bulwarks 
or embossments, and the whole mount to be thirty foot 
high ; and some fine banqueting house, with some chimneys 
neatly cast, and without too much glass. 

For fountains, they are a great beauty and refreshment, 
but pools mar all, and make the garden unwholesome, 
and full of flies and frogs. Fountains I intend to be of 
two natures : the one that sprinkleth or spouteth water, 
the other a fair receipt of water of some thirty or forty 
foot square, but without fish, or slime, or mud. For the 
first, the ornaments of images gilt, or of marble, which are 
in use do well ; but the main matter is so to convey the 
water as it never stay either in the bowls or in the cistern, 
that the water be never by rest discolored green or red, 
or the like, or gather any mossiness or putrefaction. Be- 
sides that, it is to be cleansed every day by the hand ; also 
some steps up to it, and some fine pavement about it 
doth well. As for the other kind of fountain, which we 
may call a bathing pool, it may admit much curiosity and 



xlvi] OF GARDENS 149 

beauty, wherewith we will not trouble ourselves ; as that 
the bottom be finely paved, and with images, the sides 
likewise, and withal embellished with colored glass, and 
such things of luster, encompassed also with fine rails of 
low statues. But the main point is the same which we 
mentioned in the former kind of fountain, which is, that the 
water be in perpetual motion, fed by a water higher than the 
pool, and delivered into it by fair spouts, and then dis- 
charged away under ground by some equality of bores that 
it stay little. And for fine devices of arching water 
without spilling, and making it rise in several forms, of 
feathers, drinking glasses, canopies, and the like, they 
be pretty things to look on, but nothing to health and 
sweetness. 

For the heath, which was the third part of our plot, I 
wish it to be framed, as much as may be, to a natural 
wildness. Trees, I would have none in it, but some 
thickets made only of sweetbrier and honeysuckle, and 
some wild vine amongst, and the ground set with violets, 
strawberries, and primroses ; for these are sweet and 
prosper in the shade ; and these to be in the heath here 
and there, not in any order. I like also little heaps in 
the nature of molehills, such as are in wild heaths, to be 
set, some with wild thyme, some with pinks, some with 
germander, that gives a good flower to the eye, some with 
periwinkle, some with violets, some with strawberries, 
some with cowslips, some with daisies, some with red 
roses, some with lilium convallium, some with Sweet 
Williams, red, some with bear's-foot, and the like low 
flowers, being withal sweet and sightly. Part of which 
heaps to be with standards of little bushes, pricked upon 



150 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlvi 

their top, and part without. The standards to be roses, 
juniper, holly, barberries, but here and there, because 
of the smell of their blossom, red currants, gooseberries, 
rosemary, bays, sweetbrier, and such like ; but these 
standards to be kept with cutting that they grow not out 
of course. 

For the side grounds, you are to fill them with variety 
of alleys, private, to give a full shade, some of them, where- 
soever the sun be. You are to frame some of them like- 
wise for shelter, that when the wind blows sharp you may 
walk as in a gallery. And those alleys must be likewise 
hedged at both ends to keep out the wind, and these closer 
alleys must be ever finely graveled, and no grass, because 
of going wet. In many of these alleys likewise you are 
to set fruit trees of all sorts, as well upon the walls as in 
ranges. And this would be generally observed, that the 
borders wherein you plant your fruit trees be fair and large, 
and low, and not steep ; and set with fine flowers, but thin 
and sparingly, lest they deceive the trees. At the end of 
both the side grounds I would have a mount of some 
pretty height, leaving the wall of the inclosure breast high 
to look abroad into the fields. 

For the main garden I do not deny but there should be 
some fair alleys, ranged on both sides with fruit trees, and 
some pretty tufts of fruit trees, and arbors with seats set 
in some decent order ; but these to be by no means set 
too thick, but to leave the main garden so as it be not 
close, but the air open and free. For as for shape, I would 
have you rest upon the alleys of the side grounds, there to 
walk if you be disposed in the heat of the year or day ; but 
to make account that the main garden is for the more tern- 



xlvii] OF NEGOTIATING 151 

perate parts of the year, and in the heat of summer for the 
morning and the evening or overcast days. 

For aviaries, I like them not, except they be of that 
largeness as they may be turfed, and have living plants and 
bushes set in them, that the birds may have more scope 
and natural nestling, and that no foulness appear in the 
floor of the aviary. 

So I have made a platform of a princely garden, partly 
by precept, partly by drawing ; not a model, but some 
general lines of it, and in this I have spared for no cost. 
But it is nothing for great princes, that for the most part 
taking advice with workmen, with no less cost set their 
things together, and sometimes add statues and such things 
for state and magnificence, but nothing to the true pleas- 
ure of a garden. 

XLVII. OF NEGOTIATING 

It is generally better to deal by speech than by letter, 
and by the mediation of a third than by a man's self. 
Letters are good when a man would draw an answer by 
letter back again, or when it may serve for a man's 
justification afterwards to produce his own letter, or where 
it may be danger to be interrupted, or heard by pieces. 
To deal in person is good when a man's face breedeth 
regard, as commonly with inferiors ; or in tender cases, 
where a man's eye upon the countenance of him with 
whom he speaketh may give him° a direction how far to 
go ; and generally, where a man will reserve to himself 
liberty either to disavow or to expound. 

In choice of instruments, it is better to choose men 



152 BACONS ESSAYS [xlvii 

of a plainer sort, that are like to do that that is committed 
to them, and to report back again faithfully the success, 
than those that are cunning* to contrive out of other 
men's business somewhat to grace themselves, and will 
help the matter in report for satisfaction sake. Use also 
such persons as affect* the business wherein they are 
employed (for that quickeneth much) and such as are fit 
for the matter ; as bold men for expostulation, fair-spoken 
men for persuasion, crafty men for inquiry and observation, 
fro ward and absurd men for business that doth not well 
bear out itself. Use also such as have been lucky, and 
prevailed before in things wherein you have employed 
them, for that breeds confidence, and they will strive to 
maintain their prescription. 

It is better to sound a person with whom one deals, 
afar off than to fall upon the point at first, except you 
mean to surprise him by some short question. It is 
better dealing with men in appetite than with those that 
are where they would be. If a man deal with another 
upon conditions, the start or first performance is all ; 
which a man cannot reasonably demand, except either 
the nature of the thing be such which must go before ; 
or else a man can persuade the other party that he shall 
still need him in some other thing ; or else that he be 
counted the honester man. 

All practice ' is to discover or to work. Men discover 
themselves in trust ; in passion ; at unawares ; and, of 
necessity, when they would have somewhat done and 
cannot find an apt pretext. If you would work any 
man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and 
so lead him ; or his ends, and so persuade him ; or 



xlviii] OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS 153 

his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe him; or 
those that have interest in him, and so govern him. 
In dealing with cunning persons, we must ever con- 
sider their ends to interpret their speeches ; and it 
is good to say little to them, and that which they least 
look for. In all negotiations of difficulty a man may not 
look to sow and reap at once, but must prepare business, 
and so ripen it by degrees. 



XLVIII. OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS 

Costly followers are not to be liked, lest while a man 
maketh his train longer he make his wings shorter. I 
reckon to be costly not them alone which charge the 
purse, but which are wearisome and importune in suits. 
Ordinary followers ought to challenge no higher condi- 
tions than countenance, recommendation, and protection 
from wrongs. Factious followers are worse " to be liked, 
which follow not upon affection to him with whom they 
range themselves, but upon discontentment conceived 
against some other ; whereupon commonly ensueth that 
ill intelligence that we many times see between great 
personages. Likewise glorious followers, who make them- 
selves as trumpets of the commendation of those they 
follow, are full of inconvenience, for they taint business 
through want of secrecy, and they export honor from a 
man, and make him a return in envy. There is a kind 
of followers likewise which are dangerous, being indeed 
espials, which inquire the secrets of the house, and bear 
tales of them to others. Yet such men many times are 
in great favor, for they are officious,' and commonly 



154 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlviii 

exchange tales. The following by certain estates of men, 
answerable to that which a great person himself profess- 
eth (as of soldiers to him that hath been employed in 
the wars, and the like), hath ever been a thing civil,* and 
well taken even in monarchies, so it be without too 
much pomp or popularity. But the most honorable kind 
of following is to be followed as one that apprehendeth 
to advance virtue and desert in all sorts of persons. And 
yet where there is no eminent odds in sufficiency, it is 
better to take with the more passable than with the more 
able. And besides, to speak truth, in base times ac- 
tive men are of more use than virtuous. It is true that 
in government it is good to use men of one rank equally ; 
for to countenance some extraordinarily is to make them 
insolent, and the rest discontent, because they may 
claim a due. But contrariwise in favor, to use men with 
much difference and election is good ; for it maketh the 
persons preferred more thankful, and the rest more offi- 
cious,' because all is of favor. It is good discretion not 
to make too much of any man at the first, because one 
cannot hold oat that proportion. To be governed, as we 
call it, by one is not safe, for it shows softness, and gives 
a freedom to scandal and disreputation ; for those that 
would not censure or speak ill of a man immediately, will 
talk more boldly of those that are so great with them, 
and thereby wound their honor. Yet to be distracted with 
many is worse, for it makes men to be of the last impres- 
sion and full of change. To take advice of some few 
friends is ever honorable, for lookers-on many times see 
more than gamesters, and the vale best discovered* the 
hill. There is little friendship in the world, and least 



xlix] OF SUITORS 155 

of all between equals, which was wont to be magnified. 
That that is, is between superior and inferior, whose for- 
tunes may comprehend the one the other. 



XLIX. OF SUITORS 



Many ill matters and projects are undertaken ; and pri- 
vate suits do putrefy the public good. Many good mat- 
ters are undertaken with bad minds ; I mean not only 
corrupt minds, but crafty minds, that intend not per- 
formance. Some embrace suits which never mean to 
deal effectually in them; but if they see there may be 
life in the matter, by some other mean, they will be con- 
tent to win a thank or take a second reward, or at least 
to make use in the meantime of the suitor's hopes. Some 
take hold of suits only for an occasion to cross some 
other or to make an information, whereof they could not 
otherwise have apt pretext, without care what become of 
the suit when that turn is served ; or generally, to make 
other men's business a kind of entertainment to bring in 
their own. Nay, some undertake suits with a full pur- 
pose to let them fall, to the end to gratify the adverse 
party or competitor. 

Surely there is in some sort a right in every suit, either 
a right of equity, if it be a suit of controversy, or a right 
of desert, if it be a suit of petition. If affection lead a 
man to favor the wrong side in justice, let him rather use 
his countenance to compound* the matter than to carry it. 
If affection lead a man to favor the less worthy in desert, 
•let him do it without depraving or disabling the better 
deserver. In suits which a man doth not well understand, 



156 BACON'S ESSAYS [xlix 

it is good to refer them to some friend of trust and judg- 
ment, that may report whether he may deal in them with 
honor ; but let him choose well his referendaries, for else 
he may be led by the nose. 

Suitors are so distasted with delays and abuses that plain 
dealing in denying to deal in suits at first, and reporting 
the success barely, and in challenging no more thanks 
than one hath deserved, is grown not only honorable but 
also gracious. In suits of favor the first coming ought to 
take little place ; so far forth consideration may be had of 
his trust, that if intelligence of the matter could not other- 
wise have been had but by him, advantage be not taken 
of the note, but the party left to his other means, and in 
some sort recompensed for his discovery. To be igno- 
rant of the value of a suit is simplicity, as well as to be 
ignorant of the right thereof is want of conscience. 

Secrecy in suits is a great mean of obtaining j for voic- 
ing them to be in forwardness may discourage some kind 
of suitors, but doth quicken and awake others. But timing 
of the suit is the principal. Timing, I say, not only in re- 
spect of the person that should grant it, but in respect of 
those which are like to cross it. Let a man, in the choice 
of his mean, rather choose the fittest mean than the great- 
est mean, and rather them that deal in certain things 
than those that are general. The reparation of a denial 
is sometimes equal to the first grant, if a man show him- 
self neither dejected nor discontented. Iniquum petas, 
ut cequum /eras 1 is a good rule where a man hath strength 
of favor ; but otherwise a man were better rise in his suit, 

1 Ask more than is fair, so that you may get what is fair. 

— QUINTIUAN, Inst. Orat. iv. 5, 16. 



L ] OF STUDIES 157 

for he that would have ventured at first to have lost the 
suitor, will not, in the conclusion, lose both the suitor and 
his own former favor. 

Nothing is thought so easy a request to a great person 
as his letter ; and yet if it be not in a good cause, it is so 
much out of his reputation. There are no worse instru- 
ments than these general contrivers of suits, for they are 
but a kind of poison and infection to public proceedings. 



L. OF STUDIES 



Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. 
Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; 
for ornament, is in discourse ; and for ability, is in the 
judgment and disposition of business. For expert men 
can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by 
one ; but the general counsels and the plots, and mar- 
shaling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. 
To spend too much time in studies is sloth ; to use them 
too much for ornament is affectation ; to make judgment 
wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar. They 
perfect nature, and are perfected by experience. For 
natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyn- 
ing • by study ; and studies themselves do give forth 
directions too much at large, except they be bounded in 
by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men 
admire them, and wise men use them ; for they teach 
not their own use, but that is a wisdom without them 
and above them, won by observation. 

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and 
take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to 



158 BACON'S ESSAYS [l 

weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, 
others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and 
digested ; that is, some books are to be read only in 
parts ; others to be read, but not curiously • ; and some 
few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. 
Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts 
made of them by others ; but that would be only in the 
less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books ; 
else distilled books are like common distilled waters, 
flashy • things. Reading maketh a full man, conference 
a ready man, and writing an exact man. And therefore 
if a man write little he had need have a great memory ; if 
he confer little he had need have a present wit ; and 
if he read little he had need have much cunning* to seem 
to know that ■ he doth not. 

Histories make men wise ; poets, witty ° ; the mathe- 
matics, subtle ; natural philosophy, deep ; moral, grave ; 
logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt studia in 
mores. 1 Nay, there is no stond* or impediment in the 
wit* but may be wrought out by fit studies, like as diseases 
of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling 
is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs 
and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for 
the head, and the like. So, if a man's wit be wandering, 
let him study the mathematics ; for in demonstrations, if 
his wit be called away never so little, he must begin 
again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differ- 
ences, let him study the schoolmen, for they are cymini 
sectores? If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to 

1 Studies become habits. 

2 Splitters of cummin seeds. [See note.] 



li] OF FACTION 159 

call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him 
study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind 
may have a special receipt. 



LI. OF FACTION 



Many have an opinion not wise, that for a prince to 
govern his estate, or for a great person to govern his pro- 
ceedings, according to the respect of factions, is a prin- 
cipal part of policy ; whereas, contrariwise, the chiefest 
wisdom is, either in ordering those things which are gen- 
eral, and wherein men of several factions do nevertheless 
agree, or in dealing with correspondence to particular 
persons, one by one. But I say not that the considera- 
tion of factions is to be neglected. Mean men, in their 
rising, must adhere ; but great men, that have strength in 
themselves, were better to maintain themselves indifferent 
and neutral. Yet even in beginners, to adhere so moder- 
ately, as he be a man of the one faction, which is most 
passable with the other, commonly giveth best way. The 
lower and weaker faction is the firmer in conjunction ; and 
it is often seen that a few that are stiff do tire out a greater 
number that are more moderate. 

When one of the factions is extinguished, the remain- 
ing subdivideth ; as the faction between Lucullus and the 
rest of the nobles of the senate, which they called optimates, 
held out awhile against the faction of Pompey and Caesar ; 
but when the senate's authority was pulled down, Caesar 
and Pompey soon after brake. The faction or party of 
Antonius and Octavius Caesar against Brutus and Cassius, 
held out likewise for a time ; but when Brutus and Cassius 



160 BACON'S ESSAYS [li 

were overthrown, then soon after Antonius and Octavius 
brake and subdivided. These examples are of wars but 
the same holdeth in private factions. And therefore those 
that are seconds in factions do many times, when the 
faction subdivideth, prove principals ; but many times 
also they prove ciphers and cashiered ; for many a man's 
strength is in opposition ; and when that faileth he grow- 
eth out of use. 

It is commonly seen that men once placed, take in with 
the contrary faction to that by which they enter; thinking 
belike that they have the first sure, and now are ready for 
a new purchase. The traitor in faction lightly goeth away 
with it : for when matters have stuck long in balancing, the 
winning of some one man casteth them, and he getteth 
all the thanks. The even carriage between two factions 
proceedeth not always of moderation, but of a trueness to 
a man's self, with end to make use of both. Certainly in 
Italy they hold it a little suspect in popes, when they have 
often in their mouth, Padre commune ; l and take it to be 
a sign of one that meaneth to refer all to the greatness 
of his own house. 

Kings had need beware how they side themselves, and 
make themselves as of a faction or party ; for leagues within 
the state are ever pernicious to monarchies ; for they raise 
an obligation paramount to obligation of sovereignty, and 
make the king tanquam units ex nobis, 2 as was to be seen 
in the league of France. When factions are carried too 
high and too violently, it is a sign of weakness in princes, 
and much to the prejudice both of their authority and 
business. The motions of factions under kings ought to 
1 Common Father. 2 As one of us. 



lii] OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS 161 

be like the motions, as the astronomers speak, of the infe- 
rior orbs, which may have their proper motions, but yet 
still are quietly carried by the higher motion of primum 
mobile. 



LII. OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS 

He that is only real ° had need have exceeding great 
parts of virtue,* as the stone had need to be rich that is 
set without foil. But if a man mark it well, it is in praise 
and commendation of men, as it is in gettings and gains. 
For the proverb is true, that " light gains make heavy 
purses " ; for light gains come thick, whereas great come 
but now and then. So it is true that small matters win 
great commendation, because they are continually in use 
and in note ; whereas the occasion of any great virtue 
cometh but on festivals. Therefore it doth much add to 
a man's reputation, and is, as Queen Isabella said, like 
perpetual letters commendatory, to have good forms.* 

To attain them, it almost sufficeth not to despise them ; 
for so shall a man observe them in others, and let him 
trust himself with the rest. For if he labor too much to 
express them, he shall lose their grace, which is to be nat- 
ural and unaffected. Some men's behavior is like a verse, 
wherein every syllable is measured. How can a man com- 
prehend great matters that breaketh his mind too much to 
small observations ? Not to use ceremonies at all, is to 
teach others not to use them again, and so diminisheth 
respect to himself; especially they be not to be omitted 
to strangers and formal natures : but the dwelling upon 
them, and exalting them above the moon is not only tedi- 



162 BACON'S ESSAYS [lii 

ous, but doth diminish the faith and credit of him that 
speaks. And certainly, there is a kind of conveying of 
effectual and imprinting passages, amongst compliments, 
which is of singular use, if a man can hit upon it. 

Amongst a man's peers, a man shall be sure of famil- 
iarity; and therefore it is good a little to keep state. 
Amongst a man's inferiors one shall be sure of reverence ; 
and therefore it is good a little to be familiar. He that 
is too much in anything, so that he giveth another occasion 
of satiety, maketh himself cheap. To apply one's self to 
others is good ; so it be with demonstration that a man 
doth it upon regard, and not upon facility. It is a good 
precept, generally in seconding another, yet to add some- 
what of one's own ; as, if you will grant his opinion, let it 
be with some distinction ; if you will follow his motion, 
let it be with condition ; if you allow his counsel, let it be 
with alleging further reason. 

Men had need beware how they be too perfect in com- 
pliments ; for be they never so sufficient otherwise, their 
enviers will be sure to give them that attribute, to the 
disadvantage of their greater virtues. It is loss also in 
business to be too full of respects,* or to be too curious • 
in observing times and opportunities. Solomon saith, 
" He that considereth the wind shall not sow ; and he 
that looketh to the clouds shall not reap." A wise man 
will make more opportunities than he finds. Men's be- 
havior should be like their apparel ; not too strait or point 
device, but free for exercise or motion. 



liii] OF PRAISE 163 



LIII. OF PRAISE 

Praise is the reflection of virtue ; but it is as the glass 
or body which giveth the reflection. If it be from the 
common people it is commonly false and naught, and 
rather followeth vain persons than virtuous ; for the com- 
mon people understand not many excellent virtues. The 
lowest virtues draw praise from them ; the middle virtues 
work in them astonishment or admiration " ; but of the 
highest virtues they have no sense or perceiving at all. 
But shows and species virtutibus similes l serve best with 
them. Certainly, fame is like a river, that beareth up 
things light and swollen, and drowns things weighty and 
solid. But if persons of quality and judgment concur, 
then it is, as the Scripture saith, Nomen bonunt instar 
unguenti fragrantis? It filleth all round about, and will 
not easily away; for the odors of ointments are more 
durable than those of flowers. 

There be so many false points of praise, that a man 
may justly hold it a suspect.* Some praises proceed merely 
of flattery : and if he be an ordinary flatterer, he will have 
certain common attributes, which may serve every man ; 
if he be a cunning flatterer, he will follow the arch- flatterer, 
which is a man's self; and wherein a man thinketh best 
of himself therein the flatterer will uphold him most : but 
if he be an impudent flatterer, look wherein a man is con- 
scious to himself that he is most defective, and is most 
out of countenance ° in himself, that will the flatterer en- 

1 Appearances resembling virtues. 

2 A good name is like sweet-smelling ointment [better than precious 
ointment. — Eccl. vii. 1]. 



164 BACON'S ESSAYS [liii 

title him to perforce, spreta conscientia} Some praises 
come of good wishes and respects, which is a form due in 
civility to kings and great persons, laudando pracipere ; 2 
when by telling men what they are, they represent to them 
what they should be. Some men are praised maliciously 
to their hurt, thereby to stir envy and jealousy towards 
them: pessimum genus inimicorum laudantium ; 3 inso- 
much as it was a proverb amongst the Grecians, that he 
that was praised to his hurt should have a push • rise upon 
his nose ; as we say that a blister will rise upon one's 
tongue that tells a lie. Certainly moderate praise, used 
with opportunity, and not vulgar,* is that which doth the 
good. Solomon saith, "He that praiseth his friend aloud, 
rising early, it shall be to him no better than a curse." 
Too much magnifying of man or matter doth irritate 
contradiction, and procure envy and scorn. 

To praise a man's self cannot be decent, except it be in 
rare cases ; but to praise a man's office or profession, he 
may do it with good grace, and with a kind of magnanim- 
ity. The cardinals of Rome, which are theologues, and 
friars, and schoolmen, have a phrase of. notable contempt 
and scorn towards civil business ; for they call all temporal 
business of wars, embassages, judicature, and other em- 
ployments, sbirrerie,* which is under-sherirlries, as if they 
were but matters for under-sheriffs and catch-polls* ; 
though many times those under-sheriffries do more good 
than their high speculations. St. Paul, when he boasts 
of himself, he doth oft interlace, " I speak like a fool " ; 

1 Defying consciousness, or conscience. [See note.] 

2 To teach by praising. 

8 The worst kind of enemies are those who flatter. 



LIV] OF VAINGLORY 16$ 

but speaking of his calling, he saith, Magnificabo aposto- 
latum meum} 



LIV. OF VAINGLORY 

It was prettily devised of ^Esop : The fly sat upon the 
axletree of the chariot wheel, and said, " What a dust do 
I raise ! " So are there some vain persons that whatso- 
ever goeth alone, or moveth upon greater means, if they 
have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that 
carry it. They that are glorious must needs be factious, 
for all bravery stands upon comparisons. They must 
needs be violent to make good their own vaunts. Neither 
can they be secret, and, therefore, not effectual ; but, 
according to the French proverb, beaucoup de bruit, peu 
de fruit ; much bruit, little fruit. Yet, certainly, there is 
use of this quality in civil affairs ; where there is an opinion 
and fame to be created, either of virtue or greatness, these 
men are good trumpeters. Again, as Titus Livius noteth, 
in the case of Antiochus and the ^Etolians, there are 
sometimes great effects of cross lies ; as if a man that 
negotiates between two princes, to draw them to join in a 
war against the third, doth extol the forces of either of 
them above measure, the one to the other. And some- 
times he that deals between man and man raiseth his own 
credit with both by pretending greater interest than he 
hath in either. And in these and the like kinds it often 
falls out that somewhat is produced of nothing ; for lies 
are sufficient to breed opinion, and opinion brings on 
substance. 

1 I will magnify my apostleship. — Romans xi. 13. 



1 66 BACON'S ESSAYS [liv 

In military commanders and soldiers vainglory is an es- 
sential point ; for as iron sharpens iron, so by glory one 
courage sharpeneth another. In cases of great enterprise, 
upon charge and adventure, a composition of glorious na- 
tures doth put life into business ; and those that are of solid 
and sober natures have more of the ballast than of the 
sail. In fame of learning the flight will be slow without 
some feathers of ostentation. Qui de contemnenda glo- 
ria libros scribunt, nomen suum inscribunt. 1 Socrates, 
Aristotle, Galen, were men full of ostentation. Certainly 
vainglory helpeth to perpetuate a man's memory ; and 
virtue was never so beholding to human nature as it re- 
ceived its due at the second hand. Neither had the fame 
of Cicero, Seneca, Plinius Secundus, borne her age so well 
if it had not been joined with some vanity in themselves, 
like unto varnish, that makes ceilings not only shine 
but last. 

But all this while, when I speak of vainglory, I mean 
not of that property that Tacitus doth attribute to Mucianus, 
Omnium, quoz dixerat feceratque, arte quadam ostentator? 
For that proceeds not of vanity, but of natural magnanimity 
and discretion, and in some persons is not only comely, 
but gracious. For excusations, cessions, modesty itself 
well governed, are but arts of ostentation. And amongst 
those arts there is none better than that which Plinius 
Secundus speaketh of, which is to be liberal of praise and 
commendation to others in that wherein a man's self hath 

1 Those who write books about despising glory, put their own name 
on the book. — ClCERO, Tusculan Disputations i. 15. 

2 He had a kind of art of setting forth to advantage all that he had 
said and done. —TACITUS, History ii. 80. 



lv] OF HONOR AND REPUTATION 167 

any perfection. For, saith Pliny, very wittily, " In com- 
mending another you do yourself right ; for he that you 
commend is either superior to you in that you commend, 
or inferior. If he be inferior, if he be to be commended, 
you much more. If he be superior, if he be not to be 
commended, you much less." Glorious men are the scorn 
of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, 
and slaves of their own vaunts. 



LV. OF HONOR AND REPUTATION 

The winning of honor is but the revealing of a man's 
virtue and worth without disadvantage. For some in 
their actions do woo and affect honor and reputation; 
which sort of men are commonly much talked of, but in- 
wardly little admired. And some, contrariwise, darken 
their virtue in the show of it, so as they be undervalued 
in opinion. 

If a man perform that which hath not been attempted 
before, or attempted and given over, or hath been achieved, 
but not with so good circumstance, he shall purchase more 
honor than by affecting a matter of greater difficulty or 
virtue, wherein he is but a follower. If a man so temper 
his actions, as in some one of them he doth content every 
faction or combination of people, the music will be the 
fuller. A man is an ill husband ' of his honor that en- 
tereth into any action, the failing wherein may disgrace 
him more than the carrying of it through can honor him. 
Honor that is gained and broken upon another hath 
the quickest reflection, like diamonds cut with facets. 



168 BACON'S ESSAYS [lv 

And, therefore, let a man contend to excel any competi- 
tors of his in honor, in outshooting them, if he can, in 
their own bow. Discreet followers and servants help 
much to reputation : Om?iis fama a domesticis etnanat} 
Envy, which is the canker of honor, is best extinguished ° 
by declaring* a man's self in his ends rather to seek 
merit than fame; and by attributing a man's successes 
rather to divine providence and felicity than to his own 
virtue or policy. 

The tru£ marshaling of the degrees of sovereign 
honor ° are these : In the first place are conditores i??iperi- 
orum, founders of states and commonwealths ; such as 
were Romulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, Ismael. In the 
second place are legislatives, lawgivers, which are also 
called second founders, or perpetui principes, 2 because 
they govern by their ordinances after they are gone ; such 
were Lycurgus, Solon, Justinian, Edgar, Alphonsus of 
Castile, the Wise, that made the Siete partidas? In the 
third place are liberatores, or salvatores ; 4 such as com- 
pound* the long miseries of civil wars, or deliver their 
countries from servitude of strangers or tyrants ; as Au- 
gustus Caesar, Vespasianus, Aurelianus, Theodoricus, 
King Henry the Seventh of England, King Henry the 
Fourth of France. In the fourth place are propagatores, 
or propugnatores imperii ;* such as in honorable wars en- 
large their territories, or make noble defense against in- 
vaders. And in the last place are patres patrice? which 

1 All fame emanates from servants. 2 Perpetual rulers. 

3 The Seven Parts. [See note.] 4 Deliverers or preservers. 

5 Extenders, or defenders, of the empire. 

6 Fathers of their country. 



lvi] OF JUDICATURE 1 69 

reign justly, and make the times good wherein they live. 
Both which last kinds need no examples, they are in such 
number. 

Degrees of honor in subjects are : first, participes cura- 
ru?n, 1 those upon whom princes do discharge the greatest 
weight of their affairs ; their right hands, as we call them. 
The next are duces belli? great leaders ; such as are 
princes' lieutenants, and do them notable services in the 
wars. The third are gratiosi, favorites ; such as exceed 
not this scantling • to be solace to the sovereign and harm- 
less to the people. And the fourth, negotiis pares ; s such 
as have great places under princes, and execute their places 
with sufficiency. There is an honor, likewise, which may 
be ranked amongst the greatest, which happeneth rarely ; 
that is, of such as sacrifice themselves to death or danger 
for the good of their country \ as was M. Regulus ° and the 
two Decii.° 



LVI. OF JUDICATURE 

Judges ought to remember that their office isjusdicere 
and not jus dare ; to interpret law, and not to make law 
or give law. Else will it be like the authority claimed by 
the Church of Rome, which, under pretext of exposition 
of Scripture, doth not stick to add and alter, and to pro- 
nounce that which, they do not find, and by show of 
antiquity to introduce novelty. Judges ought to be more 
learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and 

1 Partakers of cares. 2 Leaders in war. 

3 Equal to their duties. 



I/O BACON 1 S ESSAYS [lvi 

more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity 
is their portion and proper virtue. " Cursed," saith the 
law, "is he that removeth the landmark." The mislayer 
of a merestone is to blame ; but it is the unjust judge 
that is the capital remover of landmarks, when he defineth 
amiss of lands and property. One foul sentence doth 
more hurt than many foul examples, for these do but 
corrupt the stream, the other corrupteth the fountain ; 
so saith Solomon, Fons turbatus, et vena corrupta, est 
Justus cadens in causa sua coi-am adversario} 

The office of judges may have reference unto the 
parties that sue, unto the advocates that plead, unto the 
clerks and ministers of justice underneath them, and to 
the sovereign or state above them. 

First, for the causes or parties that sue. " There be," 
saith the Scripture, " that turn judgment into wormwood " ; 
and surely there be also that turn it into vinegar, for injustice 
maketh it bitter and delays make it sour. The principal 
duty of a judge is to suppress force and fraud, whereof 
force is the more pernicious when it is open, and fraud 
when it is close and disguised. Add thereto contentious 
suits, which ought to be spewed out as the surfeit of courts. 
A judge ought to prepare his way to a just sentence, as 
God useth to prepare His way, by raising valleys and 
taking down hills ; so when there appeareth on either 
side a high hand, violent prosecution, cunning advantages 
taken, combination, power, great counsel, then is the 
virtue of a judge seen to make inequality equal, that he 
may plant his judgment as upon an even ground. Qui 

i A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled 
fountain and a corrupt spring. — Proverbs xxv. 26. 



lvi] OF JUDICATURE 171 

for titer emungit, elicit sanguinem ; l and where the wine 
press is hard wrought it yields a harsh wine that tastes of 
grapestone. Judges must beware of hard constructions 
and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than 
the torture of laws ; specially in case of laws penal they 
ought to have care that that which was meant for terror 
be not turned into rigor, and that they bring not upon the 
people that shower whereof the Scripture speaketh, Pluet 
super eos laqueosr For penal laws pressed are a shower 
of snares upon the people. Therefore let penal laws, if 
they have been sleepers of long, or if they be grown unfit 
for the present time, be by wise judges confined in the 
execution. Judicis officium est, ut res, ita te?npora rerutn* 
etc. In causes of life and death, judges ought, as far as 
the law permitteth, in justice to remember mercy, and to 
cast a severe eye upon the example, but a merciful eye 
upon the person. 

Secondly, for the advocates and counsel that plead, 
patience and gravity of hearing is an essential part of 
justice ; and an over-speaking judge is no well-tuned 
cymbal. It is no grace to a judge first to find that which 
he might have heard in due time from the bar, or to show 
quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel 
too short, or to prevent information by questions, though 
pertinent. The parts of a judge in hearing are four : to 
direct the evidence, to moderate length, repetition, or 
impertinency of speech, to recapitulate, select, and collate 

1 The wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood. — Proverbs xxx. 33. 

2 He shall rain snares upon them.— Psalms xi. 6. 

3 It is the judge's duty [to consider] not only the facts but the cir- 
cumstances of the facts. 



172 BACON'S ESSAYS [lvi 

the material points of that which hath been said, and to 
give the rule or sentence. Whatsoever is above these is 
too much, and proceedeth either of glory and willingness 
to speak, or of impatience to hear, or of shortness of 
memory, or of want of a staid and equal attention. It is 
a strange thing to see that the boldness of advocates should 
prevail with judges ; whereas they should imitate God, in 
whose seat they sit, who represseth the presumptuous 
and giveth grace to the modest. But it is more strange 
that judges should have noted favorites, which cannot but 
cause multiplication of fees and suspicion of by-ways. 
There is due from the judge to the advocate some com- 
mendation and gracing where causes are well handled 
and fair pleaded, especially towards the side which ob- 
taineth not, for that upholds in the client the reputation 
of his counsel and beats down in him the conceit of his 
cause. There is likewise due to the public a civil repre- 
hension of advocates where there appeareth cunning 
counsel, gross neglect, slight information, indiscreet press- 
ing, or an overbold defense. And let not the counsel 
at the bar chop* with the judge, nor wind himself into 
the handling of the cause anew after the judge hath de- 
clared his sentence; but, on the other side, let not the 
judge meet the cause halfway, nor give occasion to the 
party to say his counsel or proofs were not heard. 

Thirdly, for that that concerns clerks and ministers. 
The place of justice is a hallowed place, and therefore not 
only the bench, but the footpace and precincts and pur- 
prise* thereof, ought to be preserved without scandal 
and corruption. For certainly " Grapes," as the Scrip- 
ture saith, " will not be gathered of thorns or thistles " ; 



lvi] OF JUDICATURE 1 73 

neither can justice yield her fruit with sweetness amongst 
the briers and brambles of catching and polling clerks 
and ministers. The attendance of courts is subject to 
four bad instruments. First, certain persons that are sow- 
ers of suits, which make the courts well and the country- 
pine. The second sort is of those that engage courts in 
quarrels of jurisdiction, and are not truly amid curia, but 
parasiti curice} in puffing a court up beyond her bounds 
for their own scraps and advantage. The third sort is 
of those that may be accounted the left hands of courts : 
persons that are full of nimble and sinister tricks and shifts 
whereby they pervert the plain and direct courses of 
courts and bring justice into oblique lines and laby- 
rinths. And the fourth is the poller and exacter of fees ; 
which justifies the common resemblance of the courts of 
justice to the bush, whereunto while the sheep flies for 
defense in weather, he is sure to lose part of his fleece. 
On the other side, an ancient clerk, skillful in precedents, 
wary in proceeding, and understanding in the business of 
the court, is an excellent finger of a court, and doth many 
times point the way to the judge himself. 

Fourthly, for that which may concern the sovereign 
and estate. Judges ought above all to remember the 
conclusion of the Roman twelve tables, Salus populi su- 
prema lex; 2 and to know that laws, except they be in order 
to that end, are but things captious and oracles not well 
inspired. Therefore it is a happy thing in a state when 
kings and states do often consult with judges ; and again, 
when judges do often consult with the king and state; 

1 Friends of the court . . . parasites of the court. 

2 The safety of the people is the highest law. — ClCERO, De Legibus iii. 3, 8. 



174 BACON'S ESSAYS [lvii 

the one, when there is matter of law intervenient in busi- 
ness of state, the other when there is some consideration 
of state intervenient in matter of law. For many times 
the things deduced to judgment may be meum and tuuin, 
when the reason and consequence thereof may trench to 
point of estate. I call matter of estate not only the parts 
of sovereignty, but whatsoever introduceth any great 
alteration, or dangerous precedent, or concerneth mani- 
festly any great portion of people. And let no man 
weakly conceive that just laws and true policy have any 
antipathy, for they are like the spirits and sinews, that one 
moves with the other. Let judges also remember that 
Solomon's throne was supported by lions on both sides ; 
let them be lions, but yet lions under the throne, being 
circumspect that they do not check or oppose any points 
of sovereignty. Let not judges also be so ignorant of 
their own right as to think there is not left to them, as a 
principal part of their office, a wise use and application 
of laws ; for they may remember what the apostle saith of 
a greater law than theirs : Nos scimus quia lex bona est, 
modo quis ea utatur legitime} 



LVII. OF ANGER 



To seek to extinguish anger utterly is but a bravery ; 
of the Stoics. We have better oracles ° : "Be angry, but 
sin not ; let not the sun go down upon your anger." 
Anger must be limited and confined, both in race and in 
time. We will first speak how the natural inclination and 

1 We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. — I Timothy i. 8. 



lvii] OF ANGER 1 75 

habit to be angry may be attempered and calmed ; sec- 
ondly, how the particular motions of anger may be re- 
pressed, or, at least, refrained from doing mischief; thirdly, 
how to raise anger, or appease anger, in another. 

For the first, there is no other way but to meditate and 
ruminate well upon the effects of anger, how it troubles 
man's life. And the best time to do this is to look back 
upon anger when the fit is thoroughly over. Seneca saith 
well, that "Anger is like ruin, which breaks itself upon 
that it falls." The Scripture exhorteth us " to possess our 
souls in patience." Whosoever is out of patience is out 
of possession of his soul. Men must not turn bees : 

Animasque in vulnere ponunt?- 

Anger is certainly a kind of baseness, as it appears well 
in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reigns : chil- 
dren, women, old folks, sick folks. Only, men must be- 
ware that they carry their anger rather with scorn than 
with fear, so that they may seem rather to be above the 
injury than below it ; which is a thing easily done if a man 
will give law to himself ° in it. 

For the second point, the causes and motives of anger 
are chiefly three. First, to be too sensible of hurt ; for 
no man is angry that feels not himself hurt ; and there- 
fore, tender and delicate persons must needs be oft angry, 
they have so many things to trouble them which more 
robust natures have little sense of. The next is, the appre- 
hension and construction of the injury offered, to be, in 
the circumstances thereof, full of contempt ; for contempt 
is that which putteth an edge upon anger as much or more 

1 And leave their lives in the wound. 



176 BACON'S ESSAYS [lvii 

than the hurt itself. And therefore, when men are ingen- 
ious in picking out circumstances of contempt, they do 
kindle their anger much. Lastly, opinion of the touch ° 
of a man's reputation doth multiply and sharpen anger, 
wherein the remedy is, that a man should have, as Con- 
salvo ° was wont to say, telam honoris crassioretn} But 
in all refrainings of anger it is the best remedy to win time, 
and to make a man's self believe that the opportunity of 
his revenge is not yet come, but that he foresees a time 
for it, and so to still himself in the meantime and reserve it. 

To contain ■ anger from mischief, though it take hold of 
a man, there be two things whereof you must have special 
caution. The one, of extreme bitterness of words, espe- 
cially if they be aculeate and proper (for communia mal- 
e dicta 2 are nothing so much) ; and again, that in anger a 
man reveal no secrets ; for that makes him not fit for 
society. The other, that you do not peremptorily break 
off in any business in a fit of anger ; but howsoever you 
show bitterness, do not act anything that is not revocable. 

For raising and appeasing anger in another, it is done 
chiefly by choosing of times when men are frowardest and 
worst disposed, to incense them. Again, by gathering, as 
was touched before, all that you can find out to aggravate 
the contempt ; and the two remedies are by the contraries. 
The former, to take good times, when first to relate to a 
man an angry business, for the first impression is much ; 
and the other is to sever, as much as may be, the construc- 
tion of the injury from the point of contempt, imputing it 
to misunderstanding, fear, passion, or what you will. 

1 A thicker covering for his honor. [See note.] 

2 Ordinary abuse. 



lviii] OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS 177 

LVIII. OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS 

Solomon saith, " There is no new thing upon the earth" ; 
so that, as Plato had an imagination, that all knowledge 
was but remembrance, so Solomon giveth his sentence, 
that " All novelty is but oblivion." Whereby you may see 
that the river of Lethe runneth as well above ground as 
below. There is an abstruse astrologer that saith, "If it 
were not for two things that are constant (the one is that 
the fixed stars ever stand at like distance one from an- 
other, and never come nearer together, nor go further 
asunder ; the other, that the diurnal motion perpetually 
keepeth time), no individual would last one moment." 
Certain it is that the matter is in a perpetual flux, and 
never at a stay. The great winding sheets that bury all 
things in oblivion are two, deluges and earthquakes. As 
for conflagrations and great droughts, they do not merely* 
dispeople and destroy. Phaeton's car went but a day ; 
and the three years' drought in the time of Elias was but 
particular, and left people alive. As for the great burnings 
by lightnings, which are often in the West Indies, they 
are but narrow. But in the other two destructions, by 
deluge and earthquake, it is further to be noted that the 
remnant of people which hap to be reserved are com- 
monly ignorant and mountainous people, that can give 
no account of the time past, so that the oblivion is all 
one, as if none had been left. If you consider well of 
the people of the West Indies, it is very probable that 
they are a newer or a younger people than the people of 
the Old World ; and it is much more likely that the destruc- 
tion that hath heretofore been there was not by earth- 



178 BACON'S ESSAYS [lviii 

quakes (as the Egyptian priest told Solon concerning the 
island of Atlantis, that it was swallowed by an earthquake), 
but rather that it was desolated by a particular deluge, for 
earthquakes are seldom in those parts ; but, on the other 
side, they have such pouring rivers, as the rivers of Asia 
and Africa and Europe are but brooks to them. Their 
Andes likewise, or mountains, are far higher than those 
with us, whereby it seems that the remnants of genera- 
tions of men were in such a particular deluge saved. As 
for the observation that Machiavel hath, that the jealousy 
of sects doth much extinguish the memory of things — 
traducing Gregory the Great, that he did what in him lay 
to extinguish all heathen antiquities — I do not find that 
those zeals do any great effects nor last long, as it ap- 
peared in the succession of Sabinian, who did revive the 
former antiquities. 

The vicissitude or mutations in the superior globe are 
no fit matter for this present argument. It may be Plato's 
great year, if the world should last so long, would have 
some effect, not in renewing the state of like individuals 
(for that is the fume of those that conceive the celestial 
bodies have more accurate influences upon these things 
below than indeed they have), but in gross. Comets, out 
of question, have likewise power and effect over the gross 
and mass of things • but they are rather gazed upon and 
waited upon in their journey, than wisely observed in their 
effects, especially in their respective effects ; that is, what 
kind of comet, for magnitude, color, version of the beams, 
placing in the region of heaven, or lasting, produceth 
what kind of effects. 

There is a toy which I have heard, and I would not 



lviii] OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS 179 

have it given over, but waited upon a little. They say 
it is observed in the Low Countries, I know not in what 
part, that every five-and-thirty years the same kind and 
suit of years and weathers comes about again, as great 
frosts, great wet, great droughts, warm winters, summers 
with little heat, and the like ; and they call it the prime. 
It is a thing I do the rather mention, because, Computing 
backwards, I have found some concurrence. 

But to leave these points of nature and to come to men. 
The greatest vicissitude of things amongst men is the 
vicissitude of sects and religions, for those orbs rule in 
men's minds most. The true religion is built upon the 
rock ; the rest are tossed upon the waves of time. To 
speak, therefore, of the causes of new sects, and to give 
some counsel concerning them, as far as the weakness of 
human judgment can give stay to so great revolutions. 

When the religion formerly received is rent by discords, 
and when the holiness of the professors of religion is 
decayed and full of scandal, and withal the times be stupid, 
ignorant, and barbarous, you may doubt the springing up 
of a new sect ; if then also there should arise any extrava- 
gant and strange spirit to make himself author thereof. 
All which points held when Mahomet published his law. 
If a new sect have not two properties, fear it not, for it 
will not spread. The one is the supplanting or the oppos- 
ing of authority established ; for nothing is more popular 
than that. The other is the giving license to pleasures 
and a voluptuous life. For as for speculative heresies, 
such as were in ancient times the Arians and now the 
Arminians, though they work mightily upon men's wits, 
yet they do not produce any great alterations in states, 



180 BACON'S ESSAYS [lviii 

except it be by the help of civil occasions. There be 
three manner of plantations of new sects : by the power 
of signs and miracles ; by the eloquence and wisdom of 
speech and persuasion ; and by the sword. For martyrdoms 
I reckon them amongst miracles, because they seem to 
exceed the strength of human nature ; and I may do the 
like of superlative and admirable holiness of life. Surely 
there is no better way to stop the rising of new sects and 
schisms than to reform abuses ; to compound* the smaller 
differences ; to proceed mildly, and not with sanguinary 
persecutions ; and rather to take off the principal authors, 
by winning and advancing them, than to enrage them by 
violence and bitterness. 

The changes and vicissitudes in wars are many, but 
chiefly in three things : in the seats or stages of the war ; 
in the weapons ; and in the manner of the conduct. Wars 
in ancient time seemed more to move from east to west ; 
for the Persians, Assyrians, Arabians, Tartars, which were 
the invaders, were all eastern people. It is true the Gauls 
were western ; but we read but of two incursions of theirs 
— the one to Gallo-Graecia, the other to Rome. But east 
and west have no certain points of heaven ; and no more 
have the wars, either from the east or west, any certainty 
of observation. But north and south are fixed; and it 
hath seldom or never been seen that the far southern 
people have invaded the northern, but contrariwise. 
Whereby it is manifest that the northern tract of the world 
is in nature the more martial region, be it in respect of 
the stars of that hemisphere, or of the great continents 
that are upon the north ; whereas the south part, for aught 
that is known, is almost all sea ; or (which is most ap- 



lviii] OF VICISSITUDE OF THINGS iSl 

parent) of the cold of the northern parts, which is that 
which, without aid of discipline, doth make the bodies 
hardest, and the courages warmest. 

Upon the breaking and shivering of a great state and 
empire you may be sure to have wars. For great empires, 
while they stand, do enervate and destroy the forces of 
the natives which they have subdued, resting upon their 
own protecting forces ; and then when they fail also, all 
goes to ruin, and they become a prey. So was it in 
the decay of the Roman empire, and likewise in the 
empire of Almaigne, after Charles the Great, every bird 
taking a feather ; and were not unlike to befall to Spain, 
if it should break. The great accessions and unions of 
kingdoms do likewise stir up wars. For when a state 
grows to an over-power it is like a great flood that will be 
sure to overflow, as it hath been seen in the states of Rome, 
Turkey, Spain, and others. Look when the world hath 
fewest barbarous people, but such as commonly will not 
marry or generate except they know means to live, as it 
is almost everywhere at this day, except Tartary, there 
is no danger of inundations of people ; but when there be 
great shoals of people, which go on to populate, without 
foreseeing means of life and sustentation, it is of necessity 
that once in an age or two they discharge a portion of 
their people upon other nations, which the ancient north- 
ern people were wont to do by lot, casting lots what part 
should stay at home and what should seek their fortunes. 
When a warlike state grows soft and effeminate they may 
be sure of a war. For commonly such states are grown 
rich in the time of their degenerating, and so the prey 
inviteth, and their decay in valor encourageth a war. 



1 82 BACON'S ESSAYS [lviii 

As for the weapons, it hardly falleth under rule and 
observation ; yet we see even they have returns and 
vicissitudes. For certain it is that ordnance was known 
in the city of the Oxidrakes in India, and was that which 
the Macedonians called thunder and lightning, and magic. 
And it is well known that the use of ordnance has been 
in China above two thousand years. The conditions of 
weapons and their improvement are, first, the fetching 
afar off; for that outruns the danger, as it is seen in ordnance 
and muskets. Secondly, the strength of the percussion, 
wherein likewise ordnance do exceed all arietations and 
ancient inventions. The third is the commodious use of 
them, as that they may serve in all weathers, that the 
carriage may be light and manageable, and the like. 

For the conduct of the war, at the first, men rested 
extremely upon number ; they did put the wars likewise 
upon main force and valor, pointing days for pitched 
fields, and so trying it out upon an even match ; and 
they were more ignorant in ranging and arraying their 
battles. After, they grew to rest upon number, rather 
competent than vast ; they grew to advantages of place, 
cunning diversions, and the like ; and they grew more 
skillful in the ordering of their battles. 

In the youth of a state, arms do flourish ; in the mid- 
dle age of a state, learning ; and then both of them to- 
gether for a time ; in the declining age of a state, mechan- 
ical arts and merchandise. Learning hath his infancy, 
when it is but beginning and almost childish ; then his 
youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile ; then his strength 
of years, when it is solid and reduced ; and lastly, his old 
age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust. But it is not good 



OF FAME 183 

to look too long upon these turning wheels of vicissitude, 
lest we become giddy. As for the philology of them, 
that is but a circle of tales, and therefore not fit for this 
writing. 

A FRAGMENT OF AN ESSAY 
OF FAME 

The poets make Fame a monster. They describe her 
in part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and sen- 
tentiously. They say, look how many feathers she hath, 
so many eyes she hath underneath, so many tongues, so 
many voices, she pricks up so many ears. 

This is a flourish ; there follow excellent parables : as 
that she gathereth strength in going ; that she goeth 
upon the ground, and yet hideth her head in the clouds ; 
that in the daytime she sitteth in a watch tower, and flieth 
most by night ; that she mingleth things done with things 
not done ; and that she is a terror to great cities. But 
that which passeth all the rest is, they do recount that the 
earth, mother of the giants that made war against Jupiter 
and were by him destroyed, thereupon in an anger brought 
forth Fame ; for certain it is that rebels (figured by the 
giants) and seditious fames and libels are but brothers 
and sisters, masculine and feminine. But now if a man 
can tame this monster, and bring her to feed at the hand 
and govern her, and with her fly other ravening fowl and 
kill them, it is somewhat worth. But we are infected 
with the style of the poets. To speak now in a sad and 
a serious manner, there is not in all the politics a place 
less handled, and more worthy to be handled, than this of 
fame. We will therefore speak of these points : what are 



1 84 BACON'S ESSAYS 

false fames, and what are true fames, and how they may 
be best discerned ; how fames may be sown and raised ; 
how they may be spread and multiplied ; and how they 
may be checked and laid dead ; and other things concern- 
ing the nature of fame. 

Fame is of that force as there is scarcely any great 
action wherein it hath not a great part, especially in the 
war. Mucianus undid Vitellius by a fame that he scat- 
tered, that Vitellius had in purpose to remove the legions 
of Syria into Germany, and the legions of Germany into 
Syria j whereupon the legions of Syria were infinitely in- 
flamed. Julius Caesar took Pompey unprovided, and 
laid asleep his industry and preparations by a fame that 
he cunningly gave out how Caesar's own soldiers loved 
him not, and being wearied with the wars, and laden with 
the spoils of Gaul, would forsake him as soon as he came 
into Italy. Livia settled all things for the succession of 
her son Tiberius by continual giving out that her husband 
Augustus was upon recovery and amendment. And it is 
a usual thing with the bashaws to conceal the death of 
the Great Turk from the Janizaries and men of war, to 
save the sacking of Constantinople and other towns, as 
their manner is. Themistocles made Xerxes, King of 
Persia, post apace out of Grecia by giving out that the 
Grecians had a purpose to break his bridge of ships 
which he had made athwart Hellespont. There be a 
thousand such like examples, and the more they are, the 
less they need to be repeated, because a man meeteth 
with them everywhere. Therefore let all wise governors 
have as great a watch and care over fames as they have 
of the actions and designs themselves. 



NOTES 

On page v are listed the essays most suitable for a course in 
secondary schools, where there is rarely time for careful reading 
and study of the complete text. These essays are here annotated more 
fully than the others, with a view to affording helpful guidance to the 
younger students. 

■ In these notes the books named below are frequently referred to. 
They will be found especially helpful in the study of the Essays. 

Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar. 

Bacon's Works, edited by Ellis and Spedding. 

Bible. Authorized Version. 

Einstein. The Italian Renaissance in England. 

Encyclopasdia Britannica, ninth edition. 

Gayley. Classic Myths. 

Green. Short History of the English People. 

Harper's Classical Dictionary. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Plato's Dialogues. 

Plutarch's Lives. 

Shakespeare's Works. 

Smith's Classical Dictionary. 

Webster's International, or any other standard Dictionary. 

I. OF TRUTH 

The word truth is here used to mean (i) the truth of fact, or philo- 
sophic truth, and (2) the truth of motive, or conduct, i.e., truthfulness. 
Does Bacon keep the two meanings distinct throughout the essay ? 

Philosophers of that kind. The Skeptics, of whom the first, Pyrrho, 
taught in Athens B.C. 300. They held absolute knowledge to be un- 
attainable by man. See Bacon's Works, iv. 69; v. 9. 

185 



1 86 NOTES [n 

Imposeth upon. Places a necessity of belief upon. In what sense 
does that take away the freedom of the mind ? 

In favor. In is often used in Elizabethan English where we should 
use into. 

One of the . . . Grecians. Probably Lucian, one of whose charac- 
ters expresses a thought much like the one here set forth. 

Explain masks, mummeries, triumphs. 

A mixture of a lie. Are the instances given by Bacon " lies " ? 

Vinum da^monum. The wine of demons. Explain the metaphor. 
See Bacon's Works, v. 26. 

Such as we spake of before. That is, such a lie as we spoke of 
before. 

Truth, which only doth judge itself. The truth [as attained by the 
human mind] is the sole judge of the correctness of thought [truth]. In 
judging truth there is no appeal to any other standard than the truth 
itself. 

Love-making, or wooing of it, or, as Bacon elsewhere puts it, " the 
happy match between the mind of man and the nature of things." 
Compare Wordsworth : — 

" The discerning intellect of man, 
When wedded to this goodly universe." 

The poet that beautified the sect, etc. Lucretius, who was the 
ornament of the Epicurean school of philosophy. Bacon here para- 
phrases a passage from his De Rerum Natura. He regarded the Epi- 
curean philosophy as rather vain and trivial. 

Not to be commanded. What do we mean by, " The hill commands 
a fine view of the surrounding country " ? 

Move in charity, etc. From what source is the figure drawn, and 
what does it mean ? 

Who was Montaigne, and how was Bacon influenced by him ? See 
Introduction. The French writer borrows the thought from Plutarch's 
Lysander. 

Find faith, etc. See Luke xviii. 8. Does faith here mean truth, as 
the context implies ? 

II. OF DEATH 

Is fear of darkness natural to children ? 
As a tribute due unto nature. Explain. 



in] OF UNITY IN RELIGION 187 

Does he mean the fear is not a strong fear, or that such fear is weak- 
ness ? 

It is worthy the observing. Cf. 2 Henry VI, iii. 1. 278, " The deed 
is worthy doing." What is the modern phrase ? 

It mates, etc. (Fr. mater, to enfeeble, humiliate.) Shakespeare and 
Bacon use the word in the sense of confound, overcome. 

Win the combat of him. From whom ? Personification of Death ? 

Look up the circumstances of Otho's death. 

Is there any principle of arrangement underlying the order in which 
Bacon mentions the passions ? 

They appear, etc. What is the antecedent of the pronoun ? 

But the Stoics aimed not so much to prepare for death by inculcating 
contempt for it, as to elevate the soul above the body through a high, 
philosophic kind of living. 

Pursuit. Used metaphorically. 

How does death extinguish envy ? 

III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION 

See Bacon's Advertisement touching the Controversies of the Church 
of England, 158Q. 

In the edition of 1612 this essay was entitled Of Religion, and re- 
ferred principally to the hostility of the Roman Church toward Protes- 
tant nations; whereas the present essay (1625) is chiefly concerned with 
the internal dissensions of the Church of England. (See Green's 
chapter on Puritan England.) Bacon looked at religion from the 
politician's standpoint, seeing in nonconformity to the Established 
Church only a disturbing force likely to prove a menace to the per- 
manency of civil government. The subject has little importance for our 
day and country. 

The doctor of the Gentiles. St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiv. 23. 

Master of scoffing. Rabelais, 1483-1553. 

Dash the first table against the second. The reference is to the 
two tables of stone on which the Decalogue was written. The expres- 
sion means : to make the first table, which teaches duty toward God, 
antagonistic to the second table, which teaches duty toward man. 

Massacre in France. St. Bartholomew, Paris, 1572. 

Powder treason. Gunpowder Plot, London, 1605. 

Mercury rod. The caduceus with which Mercury summoned to 
Hades the souls of the dead. Virgil, ALneid, iv. 243. 



1 88 NOTES [iv 



IV. OF REVENGE 

In Bacon's time the practice of dueling as a means of settling private 
quarrels was much in vogue. See, for example, Einstein's The Renais- 
sance in England. Bacon severely deprecated this custom, which he 
undoubtedly had in mind in certain parts of this essay. 

Wild justice. Wild in the sense of uncultivated, as distinct from 
legal justice. A metaphor drawn from plant life. 

How does private revenge put the law out of office ? 

Solomon . . . saith. Find the passage alluded to, Prov. xix. 

That which is past, etc. Does Bacon mean that past offenses might 
better be left unpunished ? 

No man doth a wrong for the wrong's sake. How does this agree 
with some of the views expressed in the essay Of Truth ? In another 
essay Bacon says, " The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in 
the nature of man" {Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature, Essay xiii). 

Can do no other. For this use of other, as a pronoun, see Shake- 
spearian Grammar, paragraph 12. 

And it is two for one. Explain the meaning. 

This is the more generous. Do you think this opinion, and the rea- 
son given for it in the next sentence, sound ? 

Cosmus became Duke of Florence in 1537. 

The spirit of Job. Job ii. 10. 

Augustus Caesar, Septimius Severus, and Henry IV, the respective 
avengers of the death of Julius Caesar (B.C. 44), Pertinax (A.D. 93), and 
Henry III (1598), were prosperous thereafter. 

Witches. Bacon, despite his intellectual greatness, shared with 
most people of his day the superstitions concerning witchcraft. Did 
Shakespeare ? 

V. OF ADVERSITY 

Who was Seneca ? See Biographical Dictionary. 

Bacon often refers to the Stoics. Look the subject up in some good 
encyclopaedia or history, finding out (a) when they flourished, (&) what 
their leading doctrines were, and (c) what were their relations to other 
philosophical schools of the time. 

Why does Bacon give the Latin sentences after having given the 
English translation of them ? 



vi] OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION 189 

Study out the connection between the thoughts expressed in the first 
five sentences. 

What double meaning is in the phrase, command over nature ? 
What nature is it, the command over which appears most clearly in ad- 
versity ? 

Prometheus. Look up the myth in Smith's Classical Dictionary. 
Bacon's interpretation of classical myths is highly fanciful, as appears in 
his De Sapientia Feterum, or Wisdom of the Ancients. See translation, 
Works, xiii, 75 seq. Bacon's method of interpreting the myths involves 
the untenable position that, long before the days of Homer, Greece en- 
joyed an era of much higher intellectual and spiritual culture than after- 
ward, during which period were evolved mythic fables charged with 
political, social, ethical, and scientific wisdom not yet fully attained by 
later times. For an explanation of modern methods of mythological 
interpretation see article, " Mythology," by Andrew Lang, in Ency- 
clopaedia Britannica, ninth edition. 

Is material prosperity generally set forth in the Old Testament as a 
blessing, as, for example, in the story of Jacob's life ? How is adversity 
represented in the Beatitudes, Matt, v ? 

Which carrieth, etc. Is the antecedent blessing, etc. or New Testa- 
ment ? 

Yet, even in, etc. Read what Macaulay, in his essay on Bacon, says 
about this sentence. 

Incensed. Burned as incense. What appropriate suggestion is con- 
veyed by the idea of incense ? 

VI. OF SIMULATION AND DISSIMULATION 

Explain the reasoning of the first paragraph. Is it entirely logical ? 

Who was Tacitus, and for what is he noted ? 

What is Bacon's distinction between arts or policy, and dissimula- 
tion or closeness ? 

Habits and faculties several. What does several mean ? Com- 
pare the legal phrase, "jointly and severally." 

Vary in particulars. Suit his degree of frankness to particular cases. 

Made them almost invisible. What is the literal meaning ? 

Inviteth discovery. Discovery in its literal meaning. What word 
in the next sentence conveys the same idea ? Cf. Of Adversity (Essay 
v) t and the last sentence of this paragraph. 

In that kind. The Latin version has, " for the same reason." 



190 NOTES [vii 

Face give tongue leave to speak. That is, the face should not 
speak first itself. 

Indifferent carriage between both. To what does both refer ? 

If, as Bacon asserts in the preceding paragraph, " a habit of secrecy- 
is moral," but " no man can be secret except he give himself a little 
scope of dissimulation," what must one conclude as to Bacon's idea of 
the morality of dissimulation ? 

Fair let him go on. Fair = fairly. See Shakespearian Grammar, 
paragraph i. An obsolete meaning of fairly is quietly. See Interna- 
tional Dictionary. 

Turn their freedom of speech to freedom of thought. People do 
not like to contradict a frank person, but are for that very reason all the 
more free to differ from him in their unspoken opinions, thus turning their 
freedom to speak adversely into a greater freedom of thinking adversely. 
Point out clearly the connection of the thought expressed by the quoted 
proverb with that of the context. 

Round. Direct. [See Glossary.] Does the metaphor come from 
falconry or archery ? 

Trust and belief. Of others in him ? How are these " the principal 
instruments for action " ? 

Composition and temperature. Combination and tempering. What 
is " untempered mortar " ? See Dictionary, temper. 

VII. OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN 

In the course of his Essays, Bacon deals with all of the leading rela- 
tionships of mankind, domestic, civil and political, ethical, religious, 
legal, etc. In this essay and the next, family relations are discussed. 
Note the repetition in one essay of certain views expressed in the other. 

Bacon had no children : is there a touch of self-commendation im- 
plied in any of his expressions ? 

What indications are there here of his practical wisdom ? Of his 
liberality in money matters ? 

Criticise the unity and the coherence of the essay. 

Foundations. Permanent, endowed institutions, as schools, churches, 
and hospitals. 

First raisers of their houses. Founders of notable lines of de- 
scendants. 



ix] OF ENVY 191 



VIII. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE 

Compare the opinions here set forth with those expressed in the 
essays Of Love (x) , and Of Friendship (xxvii) . Does Bacon regard 
love, or friendship, as the higher sentiment and relationship ? Do you 
find evidence in what he says, and in what he omits, of his coldness of 
nature ? (See Introduction.) Of his scientific temper of mind ? 

May have a quarrel. In the Latin translation quarrel is rendered 
ansa, handle, i.e., pretext, or excuse. 

One of the wise men. Thales, one of the Seven Wise Men of 
Greece, B.C. 640-545. Plutarch relates that when urged by his mother 
to marry, Thales protested that he was too young, and afterwards, that 
he was too old. 



IX. OF ENVY 

Evil eye. In his Natural History ( Works, ii. 653) , Bacon says : " The 
affections no doubt do make the spirits more powerful and active ; and 
especially those affections which draw the spirits into the eyes ; which 
are two, love and envy, which is called oculus malus (the evil eye) . . . 
It hath been noted that it is most dangerous when an envious eye is cast 
upon persons in glory and triumph and joy ; the reason whereof is for 
that, at such times the spirits come forth most into the outward parts, 
meet the percussion of the envious eye more at hand." This belief in 
and so the power of the evil eye to inflict injury by a sort of fascination 
was another of the superstitions that Bacon shared with his times, al- 
though he attempts to justify it on scientific grounds. 

Evil aspects. What bearing has this astrological phrase upon the 
concluding statement in the sentence ? 

Spirits. The body was supposed to contain a substance called 
spirit, which could be controlled and modified ; it was prone to rise to 
the head and issue at the eyes. 

Mark the different divisions of the essay as outlined in the second 
paragraph. 

What does evil in paragraph 3 mean ? Wickedness, or misfortune ? 
Is there a true antithesis here between good and evil ? Study this pas- 
sage closely. 

For to know much, etc. That is, it is not because the knowledge of 
other men's affairs is necessary to his own good that a man seeks it 



192 NOTES [x 

Play-pleasure. Does this mean pleasure taken in play, or pleasure 
in watching a play on the stage ? 

Narses. Exarch of Italy, A.D. 553-565. See Gibbon's Rome, ch. xliii. 

Agesilaus, king of Sparta, died B.C. 360. See Plutarch's account oi 
him. 

Tamerlane, or Timur, born 1335. The story of this Asiatic conqueror 
was used by Christopher Marlowe, the great predecessor of Shakespeare, 
as the subject of his tragedy, Tamburlaine the Great. 

Adrian, or Hadrian, became Emperor of Rome A.D. 117. 

When they are raised. What is the antecedent of they? 

Envy is as the sunbeams, etc. Express the thought in literal instead 
of figurative language. 

Being never well. Being never content or well satisfied. 

Do sacrifice to envy. What was the object, or underlying idea, in 
the offering up of sacrifices ? 

Of purpose. See Shakespearian Grammar, paragraph 175. 

Suffering themselves . . . to be crossed. Bacon advised Essex to 
use this means of conciliating Queen Elizabeth. 

Disavow fortune. Deny that his greatness is the natural and merited 
gift of fortune, and imply that he won it by shrewd scheming. 

Remove the lot. Apparently an allusion to a belief that a bewitched 
person could be cured by a transfer of some " lot " or mark of bewitch- 
ment from himself to another. 

There is yet, etc. What unexpressed consideration is implied by the 
adversative^/? 

Ostracism. What does the word now mean ? What is its deriva- 
tion ? (See Skeat's Etymological Dictionary.') What ancient Greek 
judicial custom is connected with the etymology ? 

The envious man. Matt. xiii. 25. 

X. OF LOVE 

Does Bacon here consider love as a universally pervasive force 
working out the highest good of humanity ; or does he consider it in a 
lower and more restricted sense ? In the essay Of Friendship (xxvii), 
he says, " For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of 
pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love.'' How 
does this agree with the conception of love presented here ? Is he 
speaking of the same phase of love ? 

Arch-flatterer. Note that the same idea is expressed in the essays 
Of Praise (liii) and Of Friendship (xxvii). 



XI] OF GREAT PLACE 193 



XI. OF GREAT PLACE 

Place means office or position ; e.g., a "place hunter" is an office 
seeker. 

What three points of connection are there between the first two 
sentences ? 

How does the context show that privateness does not mean privacy, 
but private life ? 

Which require the shadow. Express this in literal language. 

When this essay was written, Bacon was enjoying eminent success 
as a hunter of " great places." If he thought such eminence so great an 
obstacle to happiness as he here professes to think it, why did he so per- 
sistently continue to seek it ? Or is this view only his quanta patimur, 
the use of which he explains in the essay Of Envy ? 

To can. Can originally meant to know, to have skill. Here, not to can 
means not to be able. Cf. Hamlet, iv. 7. 85 : — 

" I've seen myself and served against the French, 
And they can well on horseback." 

Conscience. The poet Sir John Denham (d. 1668) writes : — 

"The sweetest cordial we receive at last 
Is conscience of our virtuous actions past." 

What evident meaning, now obsolete, has conscience ? 

Theater is derived from Greek deacrdcu, to see. Partaker of God's 
theater appears to mean, sharer with God in the contemplation of 
good works accomplished. 

Globe of precepts. Globe is used metaphorically to convey the idea 
of a complete and perfectly ordered body. 

Reduce things, etc. Trace things to their first principles. 

Express thyself well, etc. See middle of next paragraph for the 
explanation of this. 

Interlace not business. Do not mingle irrelevant matters with the 
main business in hand. 

For corruption, etc. What does Bacon mean by binding one's hands? 

Is the offering of a bribe a crime under our laws, as well as the re- 
ceiving of one ? 

If he be inward, i.e., intimate. Cf. Job xix. 19. Note Shakespeare's 



194 NOTES [xn 

use of the word as a noun in Measure for Measure, ii. 2. 138 : " I was 
an inward of his." 

Close corruption. What is the meaning of the expression, " They 
are keeping the matter very close " ? Cf. Macbeth, iii. 5.7: " The close 
contriver of all harms." 

Facility means easiness. Easiness sometimes means the quality of 
being tractable, pliable, compliant ; as, " He is an easy ruler." " He 
has an easy nature." " An easy-going fellow." 

Solomon saith. Prov. xxviii. 21. To respect persons = a respect- 
ing, or favoring, of persons. 

Of sufficiency. In the Latin version the meaning is expressed by 
arte imperatoria, the art of governing ; administrative ability. 

Expand the next sentence so as to correct the confused grammatical 
construction. 

Explain the metaphor in winding stair. 

To side a man's self. Latin, alteri parti adherere, adhere to one 
party or the other. 

What does balance himself mean ? 

Point out some of the passages in this essay that are obviously based 
upon Bacon's own experience in seeking and administering high public 
office. 

XTI. OF BOLDNESS 

Trivial. This word has an interesting history. Look up its 
etymology in Skeat, or the International Dictionary. See trivially in 
the essay, Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates (xxix). 

This anecdote of Demosthenes occurs in Cicero's De Oratore. 

Chief part. Burke uses the expression, " men of considerable 
parts." What is the meaning ? In what other sentence of this para- 
graph does the word mean qualities or powers ? 

What adjective form is used adverbially in this paragraph ? See 
Shakespearian Grammar, paragraph 1. 

Why does Bacon call boldness the child of ignorance and baseness ? 

Do you recall a popular saying that expresses the same thought ? 

Out of countenance, etc. The facial expression of ordinary persons 
in embarrassment is marked by changefulness due to natural sensi- 
bility ; but in like circumstances the self-confident look of a bold per- 
son, whose spirits are less mobile, is fixed and " wooden," not instantly 
altered by the disconcerting situation, but continuing in absurd incon- 
gruity with it. 



xiii] GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF NATURE 195 

The spirits. Recall the use and the explanation of this word in 
Essay ix, Of Envy. 

What is a stale-mate in chess ? 

Bacon was by nature somewhat nervous and diffident in public. 
This essay reads like the self-counsel of a man who would correct his 
own deficiency in boldness. Certain memoranda in his notebook 
indicate his resolve to assume on given occasions a self-confident 
manner, but not to overdo it. 

XIII. OF GOODNESS, AND GOODNESS OF NATURE 

Throughout the study of this essay keep distinct the two ideas of the 
title as defined in the second sentence. 

Which is primary and fundamental, inclination or habit ; motive or 
outward act ? To which category does charity, or love, belong (fourth 
sentence)? In what sense does goodness — the habit, or practice, of 
doing good — "answer to" charity? How are the motive and the 
action related ? 

Admits no excess, but [does admit] error. These two ideas are next 
successively discussed. 

Turks . . . give alms to dogs and birds. In Oriental cities dogs 
and birds are protected because they diminish the chances of pesti- 
lence by devouring the garbage of the streets, no other means for its 
disposal usually being provided. Is the motive (inclination) in this 
case one of kindness to animals, or one of self-interest ? 

Busbechius. Augier Ghislen Busbecq, a learned Flemish traveler 
(1552-1592) sent by Emperor Ferdinand as ambassador to the court of 
Solyman II. He wrote an interesting account of his sojourn at the 
Sultan's capital. 

Nicholas Machiavel. See Introduction. For a fuller comment 
upon him see Bacon's Works, v. 17. 

In bondage to their faces. Compliant to the expression of every 
passing whim of others. 

iEsop's cock. Plato, Dialogues, Phaedrus, iii. 12. yEsop's Fables, 
xiii. 

He sendeth his rain, etc. Matt. v. 45. 

Common benefits. The common necessities of life are to be be- 
stowed upon any and all who may lack them without regard to other 
conditions ; but special benefits are to be conferred only with due con- 
sideration of attendant circumstances. 



196 NOTES [xiv 

Divinity. Theology. The reference is to Christ's commandment, 
Matt. xix. 19. 

Sell all thou hast. Matt. xix. 21. Bacon has said that goodness 
cannot be carried to excess ; does he fall into self-contradiction here by 
warning against overdoing acts of charity ? When a good thing is 
" carried to excess," is it still a good thing ? Then can there logically 
be any " excess " of goodness, — only " error " ? 

Natural malignity. See the essay Of Reve?ige (iv), ninth sentence. 

Lazarus. Luke xvi. 21. 

Timon. Read the story of Timon in Plutarch's Antony, near the 
close. Timon one day announced to the Athenians that he was about 
to cut down a certain tree in his garden whereon a number of citizens 
had hanged themselves ; and extended to them a cordial invitation to 
make use of the tree for the like purpose, if they pleased, before he had 
it felled. Cf. Shakespeare's Timon 0/ Athens, v. 2. 208-15. 

Errors. The Latin translation has " sores and ulcers." 

Knee-timber. Naturally crooked timber used in shipbuilding for the 
ribs of vessels. What is Bacon's implied estimate of the politicians of 
his time ? 

The noble tree. The balsam tree, from which myrrh is obtained by 
incision. 
St. Paul's perfection. Rom. ix. 3, and 2 Tim. ii. 10. 

XIV. OF NOBILITY 

It is the social order, not the quality, of nobility, that is here dis- 
cussed. The growth of democratic principles since Bacon's time has 
rendered this class of far less importance than formerly. 

Note what is said in the next essay, and in Essay xxix, about the 
danger in the rapid increase of the nobility. In the latter essay, and in 
Essay xix, it appears that Bacon regarded the nobility, not only as a 
possible danger, but also as a benefit to the state ; whereas Machiavelli 
unqualifiedly condemns the nobility as an idle and worthless class, " very 
pernicious wherever they are." 

Broken upon them. Cf. Of Ambition (xxxvi) : " There is also 
great use of ambitious men in being screens to princes." Find a simi- 
lar view expressed in Essay ix. 

Rarely any rising but by a commixture of good and evil arts. 
See Introduction : Biographical Sketch of Bacon. In the De Augmen- 
tis he writes : " As for evil arts ... I will not certainly deny that he 



xvii] OF SUPERSTITION 197 

may advance it quicker and more compendiously. But it is in life as 
it is in ways; the shortest way is commonly the foulest and muddiest; 
and surely the fairer way is not much about." 

XV. OF SEDITIONS AND TROUBLES 

Another subject that interested Bacon as a politician and statesman. 
What other essays deal with political subjects ? Aristotle, Politics, 
Bookv, discusses "the causes of revolution in states, and of what nature 
they are; what elements work ruin in particular states, and out of what, 
and into what they mostly change." Among the causes of revolutions 
he notes the predominance of individuals, faction, ambition of great 
men, encroachment of the notables. 

Many of Bacon's views on this subject are similar to those of Machia- 
velli. See Discourses, iii, for example. 

The League. The Holy League, originated in 1575. 

Primum mobile (first moved) . The tenth or highest heaven, believed 
by Ptolemaic astronomers to revolve once every twenty-four hours 
around the earth as a center, and to carry with it the lower heavens 
containing the planets. This is one of the favorite illustrations of 
Bacon. He evidently did not believe in the primum mobile; neither 
did he accept the Copernican theory of the revolution of the earth 
around the sun. 

XVI. OF ATHEISM 

Bacon treats this subject in his Meditationes Sacrcs, expounding the 
text, " The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." See Arber, 
A Harmony of the Essays. 

Note the close connection between this essay and the next : one deals 
with the lack of true religious faith, the other with false ideas of religion. 
Atheism and superstition are compared at the beginning of Essay xvii. 

The Legend. The Golden Legend, a collection of Lives of Saints 
and other tales compiled in the thirteenth century by Jacob Voragine, 
archbishop of Genoa. 

Fifth essence. The quintessence, assumed by Aristotle to be the 
stuff of which the heavenly bodies were composed. The four elements 
are earth, air, fire, and water. 

XVII. OF SUPERSTITION 

The title of Plutarch's essay, Of Superstition, or Indiscreet Devotion, 
suggests the sense in which Bacon uses the word superstition, viz., that 



198 NOTES [xviii 

expressed in the second rather than the first definition of the word in 
the International Dictionary. 

It is possible that Plutarch's essay suggested to Bacon the writing of 
this and the preceding essay. It considers among the topics : " Ig- 
norance respecting God may lead either to atheism or superstition. 
Atheism and superstition compared. In avoiding superstition do not 
fall into atheism," and the like. 

No opinion of God. Bacon seems to hold the view that one may 
believe in God's existence, and yet have no conception of his nature. 
See the first sentence of the preceding essay. 
Primum mobile. See note, Essay xv. 



XVIII. OF TRAVEL 

In Elizabethan times travel was so highly regarded as a means of 
education that no young gentleman's schooling was thought complete 
without the " grand tour " on the continent. Italy, the center of 
courtesy, culture, and art, was the objective point, though the traveler 
usually visited other foreign countries, particularly France. As a con- 
sequence of this interest in travel many books were written about foreign 
countries, and handbooks for travelers, the forerunners of our modern 
guidebooks, were published, wherein travel was discussed much as if it 
were a distinct art. People did not travel solely for pleasure, but chiefly 
for the serious purposes of wider culture. Nevertheless the Puritans 
regarded the craze for foreign travel as a source of much evil, attribut- 
ing the spread of vice in society largely to the effects of bad foreign 
example. For a very interesting account of the whole matter see the 
third chapter of Einstein's The Italian Renaissance in England. Note 
how many of Bacon's ideas about travel were shared by others, as shown 
by the extracts from contemporary writers quoted by Einstein. 

Goeth to school. The Latin version has "grammar school." 
Explain. 

What popular Elizabethan sport may be alluded to in hooded ? See 
International Dictionary, under Falcon. 

Magazines. The Latin has "public stores and granaries." 

Burses. Latin bursa, purse. The sign of a purse was anciently set 
up over the place where merchants met. 

Some card. What is " the shipman's card" mentioned in Macbeth, 
i. 17 ? See derivation. 



xx] OF COUNSEL 199 

Adamant. How did the obsolete meaning of magnet or loadstone 
become attached to this word ? See International Dictionary. Cf. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1. 195. 

Healths. The reference seems to be to quarrels occasioned by toasts, 
or by " drinking the health." 

Apparel or gesture. The affectation of foreign fashions was exces- 
sive in Bacon's time. The literature of the period contains many 
references to the fops who aped foreign dress and manners. See 
Einstein, 164-168. Also Merchant of Venice, i. 2. 79, etc. 

How do you account for the fact that among the things to be par- 
ticularly observed while traveling in foreign lands Bacon makes no 
mention of natural scenery or of the physical characteristics and the 
products of the countries visited, matters that would greatly interest a 
traveler nowadays ? Does it show that in Bacon's time the prevailing 
interests were distinctively humanistic ? 



XIX. OF EMPIRE 

Bacon was fond of dwelling upon lofty themes. Here he discusses 
kings rather than empire, or sovereignty. Do you find any allusions to 
King James ? 

Toys. Trifles ; matters of mere amusement. One of these " toys " 
forms the subject of Essay xxxvii. See the first two sentences. King 
James was very fond of such entertainments. 

True temper of empire. True proportion and blending of the ele- 
ments of empire. 

The wisdom of all these latter times. Did Bacon have a high 
opinion of the political wisdom of his age ? This passage aptly char- 
acterizes Elizabeth's state policy. 

Edward . . . his queen. His was in early times used in place of 
the 's of the genitive. See Shakespearian Grammar, paragraph 217. 



XX. OF COUNSEL 

This essay was first published in 1607. At that time Bacon was 
ambitious of securing favor and influence with the king. Do you find 
passages in the essay that suggest this ? 

Trust. Does this mean that the giving of counsel is the greatest 



200 NOTES [xx 

obligation resting upon man in his relation to his fellow-man ; or that 
seeking counsel is the occasion and evidence of the greatest confidence 
placed by one man in another ? Note the next sentence. Is it the 
seeker or the giver of counsel who necessarily has confidence in the 
other ? Can the word confidences in the next sentence mean the same 
as trust in this sentence ? Why other? 

Commit. Do men " commit the parts of life " in the sense in which 
they " commit the whole " ? Is the argument sound ? What is the 
antecedent of the last pronoun in the sentence ? 

They are obliged. Counselors are bound. 

The Counselor. See Isaiah ix. 6. 

Solomon. See Prov. xx. 18. 

Solomon's son. Read the account in i Kings xi. 6-xii. 20. King 
Rehoboam lost the kingdom through listening to the advice of the young 
men to use threats and violence, instead of following the counsel 
of the old men to promise reforms in the government. Bacon draws 
the inference that bad counsel can be best discerned by two marks ; 
it is given by the young, and it favors the use of violence. Is the 
conclusion reasonable ? 

For the persons. In what sense is for used ? See Shakespearian 
Grammar, paragraph 140. 

Cabinet councils. Not the Cabinet, or Privy Council, of Great 
Britain in its present form and office, but rather, secret, unofficial coun- 
cils. See Cabinet in Standard or International Dictionary. Latin : 
" inner councils, which are commonly called cabinets." 

Extreme secrecy, which will hardly go, etc. Great secrecy can be 
maintained only with much difficulty if intrusted to more than one or 
two persons. Which refers to secrecy. 

Able to grind with a hand-mill. A proverbial figure like, " able to 
hoe one's own row." Explain the point of the remark from the con- 
text. 

Morton. John Morton was Master of the Rolls and Privy Councilor 
under Henry VI ; Bishop of Ely and Lord Chancellor under Edward 
IV; and Archbishop and Cardinal under Henry VII. 

Richard Fox was Privy Councilor and Keeper of the Great Seal 
under Henry VIII, and later, Bishop of Winchester. 

Elsewhere Bacon characterizes Morton and Fox as " vigilant men 
and secret, and such as kept watch with him [the king] almost upon all 
men else." 

The fable showeth the remedy. Bacon means here that the king 



xxi] OF DELAYS 201 

should use the conclusions arrived at through counsel as if they were 
his own independent decisions. The fable of Jupiter and Metis is 
omitted from this edition of the essay. 

Holpen has been superseded by what participial form ? See Shake- 
spearian Grammar, paragraph 343. 

Nature of times. This saying applies only to a special time, not to 
all persons at any time. See Luke xviii. 8 ; also the end of Essay i. 

Principis est virtus, etc. One of the epigrams of Martial, a Latin 
poet of the first century A.D. 

Secundum genera. According to classes; that is, each individual 
person must be studied and chosen on his own particular merits. 

In nocte consilium. In the night there is counsel; meaning that 
between one day and the next one's judgments have time to mature and 
become settled. 

Union between England and Scotland. When James VI of Scot- 
land became James I of England, 1603. See Spedding's Life of Bacon, 
iii. 240. 

Hoc agere. Literally, To do this; a phrase commonly used by the 
Romans to mean, " to give attention to the particular business in hand." 

Ripening business. How does a committee " ripen business " ? 

Tribunitious. The modern form is tribunitian or tribunitial. The 
Roman tribunes sometimes made their demands in an offensive man- 
ner, exaggerating their responsibility as the guardians of the rights of 
the common people. 

Take the wind of him. Take the cue from, and merely echo his 
opinions. 

Placebo. I will please. The beginning of a vesper hymn. Ps. 
cxvi. 9. 

XXI. OF DELAYS 

Sibylla's offer. Look up the story of the sale of the Sibylline books 
to Tarquinius, seventh king of Rome. 

Deceived with too long shadows. Deceived in the height, or in the 
nearness of the enemy ? Note the context. 

Argus. Argus " Panoptes," the All-seeing, so called because he had 
a hundred eyes. After his death Juno transferred his eyes to the tail of 
her favorite bird, the peacock. See the full account in Smith's Classical 
Dictionary. 

Briareus, or ^Egeon, son of Uranus. He was one of three brothers, 
all huge monsters, and had a hundred hands. Homer's lliad t i. 403. 



202 NOTES [xxn 

Helmet of Pluto. Pluto, the king of the underworld, during the war 
of the gods and giants, received from the Cyclopes a helmet that pos- 
sessed the magic power of rendering its wearer invisible. It was a 
symbol of Pluto's invisible kingdom. See Harper's Classical Dictionary. 

XXII. OF CUNNING 

Compare this essay with Essay vi. While cunning is " a sinister or 
crooked wisdom " requiring shrewdness or skill, it is not a mark of true 
wisdom. It is the chief point of " wisdom for a man's self," which 
Bacon, in theory, condemns in the next essay, though in his own politi- 
cal practice he often made use of it. It is one of the " evil arts " he 
thought necessary for rapid advancement in life. See last note, Essay 
xiv. It is an art that concerns the persons rather than the business 
involved; the art of manipulating "human nature," or of " working 
men," as Bacon terms it in the last paragraph of Essay xlvii. 

Narcissus. See Tacitus, Annals, xi. 30. 

Cat in the pan. Cat = cate, or cake, alluding to the dexterity of a 
cook in turning the pancakes. 

Looses. Means of escape ; a figure from archery. A loose was the 
act of discharging the arrow. 

XXIII. OF WISDOM FOR A MAN'S SELF 

Note the points of correspondence between the two sides of the 
analogy set forth in the first two sentences. 

Divide with reason. Cf. : " Divinity maketh the love of ourselves 
the pattern, the love of our neighbors but the portraiture." — Of Good- 
ness, and Goodness of Nature (xiii) . 

" This above all : to thine own self be true, 
And it shall follow as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man." 

— Hamlet, i. 38. 

Right earth. The earth exactly. Bacon did not accept the Coper- 
nican theory, but held that the starry heavens revolved round the earth 
as a fixed center. Hence the analogy here employed. Make sure of 
the full meaning of the phrase, " affinity with the heavens." 

His own center. His was the older possessive form of it as well as 
of he. This double use led to confusion, and finally to the formation of 
the possessive form its. See, for an example of the older usage, Gen. i. 



xxiv] OF INNOVATIONS 203 

12. Its first came into use about the beginning of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. Shakespeare uses it only ten times in all his works. See Louns- 
bury, History of the English Language, p. 129. 

Which they benefit. Not like the ant in the garden already men- 
tioned, or the man wise only for himself. 

Good and evil is at the peril of, etc. The thought is that the wel- 
fare of the public is dependent upon that of the prince. 

Of their own petty ends, etc. This explains what gives the 
bias. 

After the model of. Can you find a clearer and more familiar 
phrase? Bear in mind the topic of the paragraph as set forth in the first 
sentence. 

Crocodiles. " Crocodile tears " = hypocritical tears. " In olden times 
it was a current belief that the crocodile moans and sighs like a human 
being in great distress, in order to allure travelers within reach ; and 
even sheds tears over its victims while devouring them." — Brewer, 
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 

XXIV. OF INNOVATIONS 

Trace carefully the connection between the thoughts contained in the 
first paragraph. 

In what sense can innovations be said to be ill-shapen ? Note the 
beginning of the next paragraph. 

Most that succeed. Does succeed here mean attain success, or come 
after? Study the context carefully. 

The first precedent ... is seldom attained by imitation. The in- 
novation is not often equaled in excellence by imitation. 

Does the view expressed in the next sentence accord with that set 
forth in the sixth sentence of the essay Of Goodness, and Goodness of 
Nature (xiii) ? 

Every medicine is an innovation. Medicine is used broadly to mean 
any remedial measure or agent, the product of the " wisdom and coun- 
sel " mentioned in the latter part of the sentence. Explain why a medi- 
cine is in its very nature an innovation. 

Of course. In due course of events; not in the colloquial sense of 
certainly. 

It is fit. The Latin translation has aptum tamen esse temporibus ; it 
is nevertheless suited to the circumstances. 

Piece not so well. Bacon seems to have had in mind Matt. ix. 16. 



204 NOTES [xxv 

Holpen. See note Of Counsel (xx). 

As the Scripture saith. See Jer. vi. 16. 

XXV. OF DISPATCH 

Affected dispatch. This suggests the adage, "The more haste the 
less speed." Does affected here mean pretended, or is it used in the 
older sense of desired, implying a hurried method of work ? 

Study the simile in the following sentence. 

Crudities. Crudus is the Latin word for undigested. 

Times of sitting. Time spent upon business. In the comparison 
that follows, what is it that corresponds in business to " large stride " 
and " high lift " respectively, in races ? 

False periods. False appearances of having finished business, 
brought about by " cutting off" (next sentence) . Cf. Of Youth and Age 
(xlii) : " Drive business home to the full period." 

By contracting. Shorten business by wise economy of labor ? 

A wise man. Elsewhere Bacon attributes the saying to Sir Amyas 
Paulet. See Biographical Sketch of Bacon, Introduction, page xv. 

Moderator . . . actor. The moderator is the person who tries to 
guide or control (moderate) the speaker. (Cf. moderate in Essay 
xxxii.) The Latin translation renders " the actor " as " the speaker." 

Passages. The Latin has transitiones, i.e., transitions from one 
part of the subject to another, wherein time is wasted. 

Too material. Too insistent upon adhering closely to the matter, or 
main issue of the discussion. 

As ashes. Explain the meaning of the simile. " Negative" corre- 
sponds to " ashes " in what respect ? What remains after the " fire " of 
debate ? Why " more generative " ? How does " an indefinite " result 
correspond to " dust " ? Is dust less " generative " than ashes ? 

XXVI. OF SEEMING WISE 

The Apostle. See 2 Tim. iii. 5. 

There are . . . that do nothing or little very solemnly. Supply 
those. The relative clause is ambiguous ; what are the two meanings, 
and which is the right one ? 

Prospectives. Perspective glasses through which objects are viewed. 
Explain the metaphor in connection with what follows. 

Piso. An unprincipled Roman magistrate, father-in-law to Caesar. 



xxvn] OF FRIENDSHIP 205 

He aided in the banishment of Gicero, who retaliated by attacking him 
in two of his orations, from one of which Bacon quotes. Smith's 
Classical Dictionary, Piso, 6. 

A. Gellius. Aulus Gellius was a Latin grammarian and author who 
flourished in the second century A.D. Aldis Wright says the quotation 
is from Quintilian, Inst. Orat. x. i. 

Protagoras. See Plato's Dialogues. In this dialogue Prodicus is 
represented as making a speech in which he draws nice distinctions be- 
tween words in a ridiculous way. 

Requireth a new work. In the execution of the proposition, or in 
the development of the discussion ? Remember the subject of the 
essay. 

Inward beggar. A poverty-stricken person who puts on an outward 
show of wealth to conceal his condition. Is the first their in the sen- 
tence the correct pronominal form ? 

XXVII. OF FRIENDSHIP 

Bacon's discussion of this subject in his Ethics, Books 8 and 9, may 
be profitably compared with this essay (1625). Also, the treatment of 
the same theme in the edition of 1612, as follows : — 

" There is no greater desert or wilderness then to bee without true 
friends. For without friendship, society is but meeting. And as it is 
certaine, that in bodies inanimate, union strengtheneth any natural 
motion, and weakeneth any violent motion ; so amongst men, friend- 
ship multiplieth joies and divideth griefs. Therefore whosoever want- 
eth fortitude, let him worship Friendship. For the yoke of Friendship 
maketh the yoke of fortune more light. There bee some whose lives 
are, as if they perpetually plaid upon a stage, disguised to all others, 
open onely to themselves. But perpetuall dissimulation is painfull ; 
and hee that is all Fortune, and no Nature is an exquisit Hierling. 
Live not in continuall smother, but take some friends with whom to 
communicate. It will unfold thy understanding; it will evaporate thy 
affections ; it will prepare thy businesse. A man may keepe a corner 
of his minde from his friend, and it bee but to witnesse to himselfe, that 
it is not upon facility, but upon true use of friendship that hee impart- 
eth himselfe. Want of true friends, as it is the reward of perfidious 
natures; so it is an imposition upon great fortunes. The one deserve 
it, the other cannot scape it. And therefore it is good to retaine sin- 
cerity, and to put it into the reckoning of ambition, that the higher one 



206 NOTES [xxvn 

goeth, the fewer true friends he shall have. Perfection of friendship, is 
but a speculation. It is friendship, when a man can say to himselfe, 
I love this man without respect of utility. I am open hearted to him, 
I single him from the generality of those with whom I live ; I make 
him a portion of my owne wishes." 

Him that spake it. Aristotle, Politics, i. i. 

Epimenides flourished B.C. 600. He was said to have slept con- 
tinuously for fifty-seven years in a cave where he had chanced to fall 
asleep. According to tradition, he lived 299 years. 

Numa was, according to legendary belief, the founder of Roman re- 
ligious worship. He was said to have been taught by the goddess 
Egeria in a grove near Rome. 

Empedocles, a Sicilian philosopher, flourished about 444 B.C. He 
was reputed to have been a magician, and to have cast himself into the 
crater of Etna that his complete disappearance might confirm the be- 
lief that he was not a mortal but a god. 

Apollonius lived in the first century A.D. The account of his life by 
Philostratus is replete with reputed miracles and fables. 

What figure drawn from the New Testament occurs in the next 
sentence ? 

To want true friends. Obviously want does not mean desire. Cf. 
" It wants an hour of sunset." 

Civil shrift. Civil as opposed to what other sort ? 

As they purchase. What is the connective now used instead of as 
in such constructions ? See Shakespearian Grammar, paragraph 109. 
See three instances of this use in the next paragraph. 

Lucius Cornelius Sylla. See Plutarch's account of Sylla, Caesar, 
and Brutus. 

Augustus raised Agrippa, etc. What pronouns in this sentence are 
ambiguous ? 

Plautianus. See Gibbon : Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 
ch. v. He was Praetorian Prefect, and was finally put to death by 
Severus. 

Comineus. Philip de Comines, 1445-1509. 

Charles the Hardy (or the Bold) of Burgundy was the antagonist of 
Louis XI of France. Comineus spent his earlier years at the court of 
Charles, but afterward took service with Louis. 

Look up Pythagoras ; alchemists ; the philosopher's stone. 

Parable. Bacon uses the word for a figurative saying or metaphor, 
rather than in its present sense. It means a comparison. 



xxvii] OF FRIENDSHIP 207 

For in bodies. Body, in the physicist's sense of mass or portion of 
matter. This is one of the maxims in Bacon's Prima Philosophia. 
Point out exactly how it illustrates the thought of the four preceding 
sentences. 

Clarify and break up. What familiar natural phenomenon do you 
think Bacon had in mind ? Explain the thought. 

Cloth of Arras. Tapestry manufactured at Arras, France. This 
manufacture was not carried on before the Middle Ages. When did 
Themistocles live? (Point out the anachronism.) See Plutarch's 
account of him. 

In thoughts they lie. What is the antecedent oithey? 

Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, flourished B.C. 500. 

Dry light, as contrasted with the light of the intellect when moistened 
or softened by the feelings and habits of the individual. (See Bacon's 
Apophthegyns , No. 268.) Cf. note on humors, Of Ambition (xxxvi). 

There is no such flatterer, etc. In the essay Of Love Bacon writes, 
" The arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, 
is a man's self." 

Concerning manners. From what follows do you think manners 
means social behavior, or moral conduct ? 

St. James i. 23-24. 

The four-and-twenty letters. An account of the letters /and U in 
the dictionary will indicate why Bacon speaks of the alphabet as con- 
taining only twenty-four letters. 

Fond . . . imaginations. Fond is used in the archaic sense ex- 
plained in International Dictionary, def. 1. The thought is, that if a 
man is to think himself all in all, he may foolishly credit such absurdities 
as those mentioned, if he will. 

Represent to life. Latin, advivum, to the life; realistically. 

Sparing speech. A speech rather understating the truth. 

Bestowing of a child. Latin, collocatione filii in matrimonium, 
bestowing a son in marriage. 

Upon terms. Latin, nisi salva dignitate, without preserving his honor, 
i.e., except on honorable terms. 

Do you think the essay presents a somewhat cold and calculating, or 
a warm and generous, view of friendship ? 



208 NOTES [xxviii 



XXVIII. OF EXPENSE 

Voluntary undoing, etc. The Latin translation has, " Voluntary pov- 
erty is due sometimes to one's country, and not only to the kingdom of 
Heaven." Cf. Matt. xix. 23, 24. 

Such regard as. This use of as is not infrequent in Shakespeare 
and contemporary writers. 

Compass here means power of attention and control. Bacon did 
not live up to this rule. " To the end of his life, with all his parade of 
account books and notebooks, his servants remained uncontrolled, and 
his household laxly supervised. Such petty details were beneath the 
attention of one who was born for the service of mankind." — ABBOTT. 

Show, etc. So that one's expenses may be thought greater than they 
really are. What advantage in this ? Note how, in the essay 0/ Dis- 
course (xxxii), Bacon likewise regards the over-estimation of one's 
knowledge an advantage. 

Doubting. Robert of Gloucester (thirteenth century) writes : — 

" Edmond was a good man and doubted God." 

Shakespeare has, " I doubt some foul play." In what now obsolete 
sense does Bacon evidently use the word ? 

In respect, etc. Think of a more modern way of expressing the 
idea of this phrase. 

Searching. What special meaning here ? 

" He should never be whole until the best knight of the world had 
searched his wounds." — Malory, Morte D' Arthur. 



XXIX. OF THE TRUE GREATNESS OF KINGDOMS 
AND ESTATES 

The original of this essay was a treatise Of the True Greatness of 
Britain, written in 1608. The title of the Latin version of the essay 
is De proferendis Imperii finibus (Of Extending the Boundaries of 
the Empire), indicating that true greatness as here used means not 
mere bulk but the power of a nation to extend its influence and control 
over wider and wider territory. Bacon advised the King to undertake 
the foundation of a great Western Empire by martial conquest, as the 
best means of allaying internal strife ; and when all prospect of such a 
war failed, he advocated a war against the Turks. 



xxix] OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES 209 

Themistocles, an Athenian general and statesman, died circ. B.C. 
450. (See Plutarch's Life.) 

Metaphor means transference. (See derivation in International 
Dictionary.) The words are helped (in what way ?) by being trans- 
ferred from their personal application as used by Themistocles, to 
politics. 

Fiddle. Did Bacon do any such " fiddling " as he condemns ? (See 
his advice to Essex as to conciliating the Queen, and many other such 
instances.) 

Has manage a figurative use in " manage affairs, and to keep them 
from precipices," etc. See derivation in International Dictionary, and ' 
manege. Note the use of the word in Essay vi, Of Simulation and 
Dissimulation. 

Power and forces, substituted for the word greatness in the edition 
of 1612. 

Mustard seed. What is the source of the figure ? 

What is the meaning of stout in paragraph 3 ? See next sentence. 

Look up the battle of Arbela (Plutarch's Life of Alexander) . Darius 
had over a million soldiers ; Alexander, thirty-five thousand. 

Tigranes. See Plutarch's Life of Lucullus. Tigranes was King of 
Armenia B.C. 96-56. 

The words of Solon are quoted from Machiavelli's Discourses, 
Book II. 

Blessing of Judah and Issachar. See Gen. xlix. 9, 14. 

Low Countries. The people willingly submitted to heavy taxation 
for public defense against Spain. 

In regard (of) was formerly used to convey the idea now expressed 
by on account of. (Here, on account of the fact that, etc.) 

King Henry VII. See Bacon's History of Henry VLL (pub. 1621). 

Nebuchadnezzar's tree. See Dan. iv. 10-37. (Cf. Machiavelli, 
Discourses, ii. 4.) 

Compass, i.e., their original small territory. 

Singular, single. Shakespeare does not use the word in this sense, 
but Holinshed, in his Chronicle, published when Shakespeare was thir- 
teen years old, writes, " They agreed to try the matter together in a 
singular combat." 

And putting both constitutions together. Explain "both consti- 
tutions." 

What is the" point in, It was the world that spread upon the 
Romans ? 



210 NOTES [xxix 

Pragmatical sanction. See explanation in Webster's International 
Dictionary. Soon after the accession of Philip IV a royal decree was 
published (1622) intended to promote an increase in the number of 
marriages in Spain. 

Contain the principal bulk, etc. Contain is still used, reflexively, in 
this sense of restrain, in such phrases as, " We could not contain our- 
selves." 

See Plutarch's account of Romulus. 

Sent a present. Latin, legavit, bequeathed. That is, he bequeathed 
them the advice that they should intend arms. 

It needeth not to be stood upon. Cf. " I stand upon my rights." 
Is the argument sound that because certain great nations were also 
warlike, greatness cannot be attained by a peaceful nation ? 

Tacit conformity of estate. The context suggests that the reference 
is to the establishment by one state, or government, in a foreign state, 
of some political party or form of government that will be tacitly, though 
not outwardly, conformable to the influence and interests of the state to 
which it owes its origin and maintenance. 

Is there no better way in which the power of a nation can be exer- 
cised than in war ? Cf. Bacon's views with those of Machiavelli, Dis- 
courses, i. 6. 

It maketh to be still, etc. Try transposing the parts of the sen- 
tence : To be always for the most part in arms maketh for greatness, etc. 

Abridgment of a monarchy. Latin, epitome, i.e. (in modern figu- 
rative phrase), a monarchy "in a nutshell." 

Pompey his = Pompey's. For the explanation of this form of the 
possessive see Shakespearian Grammar, paragraph 217. 

Actium, B.C. 31. Augustus defeated Antony. 

Lepanto. A celebrated naval battle between the Turks and the 
Christians in 1571, in which the latter, commanded by John of Austria, 
won a decisive victory, which as Bacon says, " hath put a hook into the 
nostrils of the Ottomans to this day." 

Set up their rest. A figurative expression of obscure origin, appar- 
ently meaning, staked their all. 

Not merely inland. See mere in the essay Of Friendship (xxvii). 
See merely in the second paragraph of the essay Of Revenge (iv). Can 
you think of any modern use of the word in which it expresses some- 
thing of the idea of wholly or entirely ? 

Remembrance . . . upon the escutcheon. A commemorative device 
upon the coat of arms. 



xxx] OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH 21 1 

The style of emperor. After a victory the Roman soldiers often 
saluted their general with the title ("style") of " imperator," or 
emperor. See International Dictionary, imperator. 

That of the triumph. The Latin translation has mos Me triumph- 
al! di, that custom of the triumph. Some such word as custom seems 
to have dropped out of the English version. What was the Roman 
" triumph"? 

Model of, etc. Of here is appositional ; the meaning is : this small 
frame, man's body. 

XXX. OF REGIMENT OF HEALTH 

Regiment in this sense is now obsolete. The modern form is 
regimen. 

For strength of nature, etc. For introduces a reason to support the 
conclusions expressed in the preceding sentence. Note the logical 
dependency. 

Owing. Latin, Tandem velut debita exigentur, will finally be ex- 
acted like debts. 

If necessity enforce it. Ambiguous. Does the antecedent of it 
precede or follow the pronoun in this sentence ? 

For it is a secret. Machiavelli advises " a new prince in a new 
conquest to make everything new." Discourses, i, 26. 

By little and little. What is the usual present form of the phrase ? 

Find similar thoughts in the essays Of Innovations (xxiv) and Of 
Nature in Men (xxxviii). 

Of long lasting. This is rendered in the Latin translation by ad 
prolongandam vitam, for prolonging life. 

Why mirth rather than joy ? 

Except it be grown into a custom. But should one not strive 
against a bad custom ? Find an opinion on this point in the essay Of 
Custom and Education (xxxix) . 

In health [respect] action. What seems to be the meaning of action 
in view of the next three sentences ? 

Celsus was a Roman writer of treatises on medicine who lived at 
the time of Caesar Augustus. 

Taught masteries. Disciplined to submit to varying conditions, or 
to overcome them ? Latin, robur acquiret, will acquire strength. 

Regular in proceeding according to art. How does this criticism ot 
medical practice express Bacon's scientific spirit and method ? 



212 NOTES [xxxi 



XXXI. OF SUSPICION 

Fly by twilight. In this metaphor the resemblances are between 
thoughts and birds ; suspicions and bats ; twilight and what ? The 
answer is suggested by the sentence below : " Men should remedy sus- 
picion by procuring to know more." 

Heart. The heart is here regarded as the seat of courage, as the 
words stoutest and stout that follow, indicate. Recall the use of stout in 
the essay Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates (xxix). 

As to provide as = so to provide that. See Shakespearian Grammar, 
paragraphs 106, 109, 275. 

Buzzes . . . stings. Express in other words the literal meaning of 
this figure. 

That he suspects. What is the antecedent of the pronoun? 

Would not be done. What auxiliary verb is now used in such con- 
structions instead of would? 



XXXII. OF DISCOURSE 

Compare with the text the first version (1597), which is as follows : — 
Some in their discourse desire rather commendation of wit, in being 
able to holde all arguments, then of Iudgment in discerning what is 
true ; as if it were a praise to knowe what might be saide, and not what 
should be thought; some haue certain common places, and theames, 
wherein they are good, and want variety : W ch kinde of Poverty is for 
the most parte tedious, and now and then ridiculous : the honorablest 
parte of talke is to giue the occasion, and againe to moderate, and passe 
to somewhat else: It is good to vary, and mixe speache of the pres- 
ent occasion w th arguments, tales w th reasons : asking of questions 
w th telling of opinions; and lest w th earnest: but some things are 
privileged from lest, namely, Religion, matters of state, greate persons, 
all mens present business of Importaunce, and any case that deserveth 
pitty : He that questioneth much, shall learne much, and content much, 
especially if he apply his questiones to the skill of the party of whom he 
asketh : for he shall giue them occasion to please themselues in speak- 
ing, and himselfe shall continually gather knowledge: if sometimes you 
dissemble your knowledge of that you are thought to knowe, you shall 
bethought another time to knowe, that w ch you knowe not; speache 
of a mans selfe is not good often ; and there is but one thing wherein a 



xxxiii] OF PLANTATIONS 21 3 

man may^commend himselfe w th good grace, and that is commending 
vertue in another; especially if it be such a vertue as whervnto himselfe 
pretendeth : Discretion of speache is more than eloquence, and to 
speake agreeably to him w th whome we deale, is more than to speake in 
good wordes or in good order : a good continued speache, w th out a 
good speache of Interloquution showeth slownes ; and a good second 
speache w th out a good set speache showeth shallownes. To vse to 
many circumstaunces ere one come to the matter is wearisome, and to 
vse none at all is blunt. 

Good, and want, etc. What other conjunction would better express 
the connection? 

Give the occasion. Suggest or inspire conversation. 

Speech of the present occasion with arguments. Matters of pass- 
ing interest with those of permanent importance. 

What indicates that the meaning of jade, to weary with riding, was 
new in Bacon's time ? But cf. Twelfth Night, ii. v ; Antony and Cleo- 
patra, iii. 1. 

Content much. Give much content or pleasure to others. 

Does Bacon seem to think it an advantage to be credited with knowl- 
edge not possessed ? Does he approve dissimulation as a means of 
securing such credit ? Cf. the essays Of Simulation and Dissimulation 
(vi) and Of Seeming Wise (xxvi). 

That as here used = what, or that which. See Shakespearian Gram- 
mar, paragraph 244. Note omission of the relative below in, " I knew 
one was wont to say," etc. 

Speech of touch, etc. Speech having reference to others. 

As a field. Extending in all directions, not like a road running to 
some particular point. 

Explain the point of the anecdote in paragraph 6. 

Agreeably. In a way suited to him. (Does the context justify this 
interpretation ?) 

XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS 

In Bacon's day the word plantation was commonly used where we 
should use colony, as " the Virginia Plantation." The origin of this use 
is suggested in the sentence, " Planting of countries is like planting of 
woods." 

What observations made by Bacon apply to England's early colonies 
in America ? 



214 NOTES [xxxiv 

Bay-salt. Salt made by evaporating sea water in shallow pits or 
basins. 

XXXIV. OF RICHES 

Why is the Latin word better than the English? 

Conceit. This word has been narrowed in meaning since Eliza- 
bethan times. Here it means conception, imagination, idea. 

Where much is, etc. Find the passage quoted from Eccl. v. 

Solomon saith. Pro v. xviii. 

Come upon speed. What preposition is now used in such a phrase? 
(We still say "come on the run," etc.) See Shakespearian Grammar, 
paragraph 180. 

Came very hardly. Hardly differs in what way from its current 
meaning ? 

Explain grindeth double, etc. 

Value unsound men. Represent them as financially responsible. 

Privilege. See monopolies below. 

Explain play the true logician, etc. 

Monopolies. Look up the matter of private monopolies in Eliza- 
bethan England. Sir Walter Raleigh, for example, was granted the 
exclusive privilege of selling tavern and wine retailers' licenses. Under 
James I monopolies were abolished by law. 

Of the best rise. Of the greatest honor. 

Fishing for testaments. In a notebook or diary written by Bacon 
in 1608 (see Life, Spedding, Vol. IV, p. 63), is a memorandum ex- 
pressing Bacon's purpose of practicing to be inward with my Lady Dor- 
set per Champners ad utilit. testam., that is, contriving to become a 
close friend of Lady Dorset by means of Champners, for testamentary 
purposes. The context seems to indicate that Bacon was thus " fishing 
for testaments " for the purpose, not of enriching himself, but of pro- 
moting the advancement of science. 

Glorious gifts and foundations. Ostentatious bequests for chari- 
table or public purposes. Explain the simile. 

XXXV. OF PROPHECIES 

Essay xvii deals with religious superstition ; Of Prophecies examines 
one form of what may be termed scientific superstition. In the Advance- 
ment of Learning Bacon writes : " The nature of the human is more 



xxxvi] OF AMBITION 215 

affected by affirmatives and actives than by negatives and privatives ; 
whereas by right it should be indifferently disposed toward both ; but 
now a few times hitting or presence produces a much stronger impres- 
sion on the mind than many times failing or absence, — a thing which 
is the root of all vain superstition and credulity." This error is one 
of what Bacon calls the Idols of the Tribe. See the last " cause of super- 
stition" mentioned in paragraph 2 of Essay xvii. 

Pythonissa. I Sam. xxviii. 19. 

Atlanticus. Plato's treatise, commonly known as the Critias, a 
dialogue about an unknown island called Atlantis. The early naviga- 
tors of the sixteenth century were influenced in some degree by the 
stories of this fabled island in the west. 

XXXVI. OF AMBITION 

Humor. According to mediaeval physiology the body contained four 
humors, or moistures, the predominance of any one of which deter- 
mined the disposition, or temperament ; excess of blood produced the 
sanguine temperament ; of phlegm, the phlegmatic ; of choler, or bile, 
the choleric, or bilious; and of black bile (Greek, /xeAcryxoXia), the 
melancholy. That curious old book of Robert Burton, The Anatomy of 
Melancholy, published about five years before Bacon's death, contains 
much of the old physiology. 

They are rather busy. Redundant pronouns were often inserted by 
the older writers for greater clearness. 

Evil eye. See note on the essay Of Envy (ix). 

Never so ambitious. What is the modern form of the idiom ? Ba- 
con's phrase is the more logical. Can you expand it to its full grammat- 
ical form so as to show this fact ? 

Dispenseth with. See Webster's International Dictionary, def. 3. 
The usefulness of their services outweighs the other consequences of 
their ambition, however ill those may be. 

It was a common belief in Bacon's time that a seeled dove, if liberated, 
would continue to mount straight upward until it fell from exhaustion. 

Macro was a favorite of Tiberius. He is said to have been acces- 
sory to the murder of Tiberius by Nero. 

Justify the statements beginning, There is less danger. 

Who was the favorite of King James to whom Bacon appears to 
allude? Read the story of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, in 
Green's Short History of the English People. 



2l6 NOTES [xxxvn 

The ship will roll. Explain the figure. 

Honor hath three things in it: the vantage ground to do good. 

Find another expression of this view in the first paragraph of the essay 
Of Great Place (xi). 

XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS 

Masques were first heard of in England in the reign of Henry VIII. 
They were popular all through the reign of Elizabeth, but reached their 
fullest development under James I. Ben Jonson was the greatest of 
the masque writers, and Inigo Jones the greatest deviser of scenery and 
stage machinery. 

The masque was an elaborate dramatic entertainment made up of 
dialogue, dancing, and music, introducing many allegorical and other 
characters. They sometimes involved a cost as high as ^20,000. See 
Herbert A. Evans, English Masques. 

Triumphs were gorgeous processions in honor of great personages. 
Queen Elizabeth was fond of such spectacles and parades. Says Green : 
" Her delight was to move in perpetual progresses from castle to castle 
through a series of gorgeous pageants, fanciful and extravagant as a 
caliph's dream." 

Broken music. Music having different harmonic parts. See Troilus 
and Cressida, iii. 1. 20, 52. 

XXXVIII. OF NATURE IN MEN 

The meaning of the word nature in this essay is indicated by the 
qualifying phrase of the title. 

Custom. Until a course of action has become habitual it is not yet 
a part of the nature. 

Arrest nature in time. In respect of time ; keep nature waiting, as 
it were. 

The pause reinforceth the new onset, etc. Practice a new habit in- 
termittently, because relief from its discipline renders each renewal of 
practice more perfect, and so helps to establish the habit desired. 
Whereas the weariness of continuous practice leads to the admission of 
errors which, being also practiced, obstruct the acquirement of the 
new habit. 

Lay buried. Modern usage requires what form of the verb ? 



xxxix] OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION 217 

.ZEsop's fable of Venus and the cat. " What is bred in the bone will 
come- out in the flesh." 

Converse in. Live or associate with. In Bacon's time the word con- 
versation was common in the sense of behavior or course of life. Cf. 
its use in the " King James " version of the Bible, 1 Peter iii. 2, James 
iii. 13, and elsewhere. 

Commandeth upon himself. Note the meaning of this as indicated 
by the antithesis with the phrase, " agreeable to his nature." 



XXXIX. OF CUSTOM AND EDUCATION 

Compare the introductory thoughts concerning the relation between 
nature and custom with those of the preceding essay. 

After as. After was often used in the sense of according. Compare 
such expressions in the " King James " version of the Bible, as Isaiah 
xi. 3 : " He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove 
after the hearing of his ears." 

Note the parallelism of construction, and the three points of connec- 
tion, between the first two sentences. 

Evil-favored. In what sense is the instance quoted from Machiavelli's 
Discourses, iii. 6, "evil-favored" ? 

Undertakings. Does this mean attempts, or does it mean promises 
to perform ? That is, does the word refer to words or deeds ? Keep 
the preceding sentences closely in mind. 

Friar Clement assassinated Henry III of France, 1589. 

Ravaillac murdered Henry IV of France, 1610. 

Jaureguy, in 1582, made an attempt to assassinate William the Silent, 
Prince of Orange, severely wounding him. 

Baltazar Gerard murdered William the Silent in 1584. 

Nor the engagement, etc. How would a modern writer construct 
this sentence ? 

Of the first blood. Men committing murder for the first time. 

Votary resolution. See International Dictionary, under votary, 
where this passage is quoted as an illustration. 

The Indians. The Hindoos. See suttee, and sutteeism, in the Inter- 
national Dictionary. 

Engaged. Gage = pledge or pawn. Engaged literally means 
bound by a pledge. Here it has the general meaning of bound or 
held. 



218 NOTES [xl 

Principal magistrate. What is the meaning of the metaphor ? 
Take the ply. Latin, plicare = to fold or bend. What familiar 
adage does the figure suggest ? 

XL. OF FORTUNE 

For the use of but in the first sentence see Shakespearian Grammar, 
paragraph 122. 

Faber quisque, etc. In the Advancement of Learning, ii. 24. 8, Bacon 
attributes the origin of the maxim to a verse of Plautus. 

Disemboltura or disenvoltura. A turning of oneself inside out. 

Milken way. An obsolete form of the adjective. What is the dis- 
tinction in meaning between such forms as silky and silken; woody 
and wooden ; woolly and woolen ? See Shakespearian Grammar, para- 
graph 444. 

Enterpriser and remover. An adventurous and an unsettled, rest- 
less man. 

Timotheus. See the story near the beginning of Plutarch's Life of 
Sylla. Timotheus was a famous Athenian general who lived in the 
fourth century B.C. 

Timoleon. See his life by Plutarch (near the end). He was a 
Greek statesman and general. He died B.C. 337. Read the short 
account of him in Smith's Classical Dictionary. 

It is much, etc. The Latin version has, " rests principally with our- 
selves." 

XLI. OF USURY 

The word usury meant originally payment for the use of anything, 
particularly for the use of borrowed money. It has been narrowed 
since Bacon's time to mean an illegally high rate of interest. The be- 
lief was formerly current that to take interest on money was indefensible 
from a moral and religious point of view. See Deut. xxiii. 19, etc. No 
doubt the feeling was intensified by prejudice against the Jews, who were 
the money lenders of Europe. See Grote, History of Greece, iii. 147, 
note, for an historical sketch of usury. 

Orange-tawny, or yellow, was the color legally prescribed for Jews. 

Can you harmonize these statements? " For were it not for this lazy 
trade of usury, money . . . would in great part be employed in mer- 
chandising." " If the userer call in or keep back his money, there will 
ensue presently a great stand of trade." 



xlii] YOUTH AND AGE 219 



XLII. YOUTH AND AGE 

Compare the views contained in this essay with those in Bacon's 
History .of Life and Death, Works, v. 319 : — 

" Youth has modesty and a sense of shame, old age is somewhat 
hardened ; a young man has kindness and mercy, an old man has be- 
come pitiless and callous ; youth has a praiseworthy emulation, old age 
ill-natured envy ; youth is inclined to religion and devotion by reason 
of its fervency and inexperience of evil, in old age piety cools through 
the lukewarmness of charity and long intercourse with evil, together 
with the difficulty of believing ; a young man's wishes are vehement, 
an old man's moderate ; youth is fickle and unstable, old age more 
grave and constant ; youth is liberal, generous, and philanthropic, 
old age is covetous, wise for itself, and self-seeking ; youth is confident 
and hopeful, old age diffident and distrustful ; a young man is easy and 
obliging, an old man churlish and peevish ; youth is frank and sincere, 
old age cautious and reserved; youth desires great things, old age re~ 
gards those that are necessary ; a young man thinks well of the present, 
an old man prefers the past ; a young man reverences his superiors, an 
old man finds out their faults." 

Old in hours. What is the literal meaning ? Cf. " youth in thoughts," 
below. 

Invention of young men. See below : " Young men are fitter to in- 
vent than to judge." Explain from the context what invention 
means. 

Natures that have much heat. Cf. "heat and vivacity in age," 
below. What do we mean by " a cool temper " ; " coldness of 
nature " ? 

Septimius Severus. A Roman emperor, a.d. 193-211. 

Cosmus. See note, Of Revenge (iv). 

Gaston de Fois (Foix). Nephew of Louis XII of France. After a 
brilliant career as commander of the French armies in the war with 
the Spaniards and Italians, he fell in the battle of Ravenna, 1512, at the 
age of twenty-three. 

Fitter for execution than for counsel. Find a passage in the essay 
Of Counsel (xx) expressing the same thought. 

Abuseth them. What is the literal meaning of ab + use ? Of course, 
the antecedent of them is things. 

The errors of young men are the ruin of business. How does 



220 NOTES [xliii 

the character of youthful errors compare with that of the errors of 
age? 

Note how this paragraph and the next are related to each other. 

Means and degrees. The idea of means necessarily implies what 
correlative idea ? Is the surest means of attaining a desired end some- 
times to work toward it " by degrees " ? Think of a good illustration, 
or find one in one of the other essays. 

Absurdly. In a perverse or unreasonable manner. Which verb 
does it modify ? 

Care not to innovate. In what sense, according to the context : Do 
not care to make innovations, or, Do not exercise care about making 
innovations ? Cf. the essay Of Innovations (xxiv) with this. 

Rabbin. See Joel ii. 28. The reference is to Isaac Abrabanel, an 
illustrious Spanish Jew of the fifteenth century, who wrote learned com- 
mentaries on various parts of the Scriptures. See Lippincott's Bio- 
graphical Dictionary. 

Hermogenes. A celebrated Greek rhetorician of the second century 
A.D. At fifteen he was professor of rhetoric at Rome, and at the age 
of seventeen wrote a treatise on rhetoric that was long used as a text- 
book in the schools. At the age of twenty-five he lost his memory and 
all capacity for usefulness, though he lived for many years thereafter. 

Hortensius. A contemporary and rival of Cicero (Tully). 

Ultima, etc. The end did not equal the beginning. Livy, xxxviii, 53, 
really says, " The first part of his life* was more memorable than the 
latter part." 

XLIII. OF BEAUTY 

Bacon here makes no attempt to explain or analyze beauty in the 
abstract. To what phase of beauty does he confine his discussion? His 
observations are somewhat scattering, and strike a modern reader as 
rather commonplace. The subject of this essay naturally suggests that 
of the next. 

XLIV. OF DEFORMITY 

Chamberlain, in a letter to Sir Dudley Carleton, Dec. 17, 1612, 
wrote : " Sir Francis Bacon hath set out new Essays, where, in a chap- 
ter on Deformity, the world takes notice that he points out his little 
cousin to the life." Bacon's cousin, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, had 



xlvii] OF NEGOTIATING 221 

died in the preceding May. If it is true that Bacon intended to charac- 
terize Cecil in this essay, it was an ungrateful act, as Cecil had conferred 
upon him more than one substantial favor. 

XLV. OF BUILDING 

The influence of Italy had stimulated a new interest in architecture 
and gardening. (See next essay.) Bacon seems to have had a greater 
interest in the beauty of art than in that of nature. When did the 
appreciation of natural beauty begin to show itself in English literature ? 

Momus. The Greek god of censure, who found fault with the house 
of Athena because it was not provided with wheels so that it could be 
removed from the vicinity of ill neighbors. 

Vatican. The papal palace at Rome, said to contain about 4500 
rooms. 

Escurial. A vast building near Madrid, begun by Philip II of Spain. 

XLVI. OF GARDENS 

Bacon regards the art of gardening as a higher art than that of build- 
ing. This essay is interesting as a description of a " prince-like " 
seventeenth-century English garden, and as a means of estimating a 
side of Bacon's personality not elsewhere so clearly revealed. Did he 
love nature, or rather the effects of art applied to nature ? Did he have 
what we call artistic taste ? Are there indications in the essay that he 
had better taste in gardening than the prevalent taste of his time ? He 
describes a sort of combined flower garden, orchard, and park. 

XLVII. OF NEGOTIATING 

Upon what reasons do you think Bacon bases the opinion expressed 
in the first sentence ? 

Tender cases. What synonym of tender would be chosen by a mod- 
ern writer ? 

May give him a direction. Him is ambiguous. To whom does it 
refer ? 

Disavow or to expound. Does he mean, during the conversation, to 
disclaim a meaning wrongly imputed to his words, or to explain expres- 
sions that are misunderstood; or, does he mean, after the conversation, 
to deny what one has really said, or so to qualify and explain it as to 
make it serve some later purpose ? 



222 NOTES [xlviii 

In choice of instruments. An instrument is an agent. 
Success. Does the word always mean a happy consequence or out- 
come ? Cf. Milton : — 

" Perplexed and troubled at his bad success." 

For satisfaction sake. Is the form of satisfaction in accordance with 
modern usage ? Try substituting for it truth, policy \ man, conscience, 
mercy. 

Absurd men. Absurd in the Latin sense of dull-witted. 

Why should a froward man or a stupid man be a desirable agent in 
the kind of negotiation referred to ? (The Latin version reads, " for a 
business that has any unfairness in it.") 

Prescription. What is the literal meaning {pre + scription) ? Show 
from the context how that could mean reputation for success. 

Men in appetite. Latin, ad-\-petere, to seek for. Men who want 
something. 

If a man deal with another upon conditions. The meaning of the 
sentence is somewhat doubtful. Note the ambiguity of the pronouns. 
The sense appears to be this : If a man, A, deal with another, B, upon 
mutual conditions, — one party to render some service to the other pro- 
vided he receive an equivalent service in return, — the question who 
shall render the first service is all-important. A cannot more reason- 
ably demand it of B than can B of A, unless A can convince B (i) that 
B's performance must in the nature of things precede A's in order to 
make the latter possible ; or, (2) that after B's part has been carried out 
A will still be dependent upon B in some other matter, and therefore B 
will be in a position to exact the fulfillment of A's part ; or, that A is 
counted more honest than B, and hence will be more likely to carry out 
the second condition after B has complied with the first. Think of an 
illustration of such a transaction. 

What is the topic of each paragraph of the essay ? 

XLVIII. OF FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS 

Bacon wrote this essay when he was a seeker rather than a bestower 
of patronage. Although when Lord Chancellor, attended on his way to 
court by three hundred gallants, he wrote, " This matter of pomp, which 
is heaven to some men, is hell to me, or purgatory at least," he cared 
enough about it to keep a hundred household servants, and to main- 
tain numerous dependents. See note, Essay xxviii. 



l] OF STUDIES 223 

"There is little friendship in the world, and least of all between 
equals," says Bacon, at the close of this essay. What is the point of 
this remark taken in connection with the title of the essay ? Is this the 
view held throughout Essay xxvii ? 

XLIX. OF SUITORS 

Two kinds of suits are mentioned in this essay, " suits of controversy " 
involving a question of equity between two parties, and "suits of 
petition " involving a question of the relative deserts of two or more 
suitors for the same favor. The latter kind of suit is later called " suits 
of favor." As a seeker of " great place," as a jurist, and as an influen- 
tial state official able to lend his aid to ambitious place hunters, Bacon 
had a wide experience upon which to draw in treating this subject. 
Note the passages that seem most clearly to be based upon that experi- 
ence. Compare Essay lvi. 

Advantage be not taken of the note. The Latin translation shows 
that this passage means that advantage should not be taken of any 
confidential disclosure made by a suitor whose petition is denied, but 
that he be recompensed for his confidence (in the person to whom he 
addresses himself) by being left free to pursue any other means of 
obtaining his suit. 

A man were better rise, etc. The Latin translation has: a man 
would do better " to rise gradually to that which he wants, and at least 
get something." For, though a patron might at first refuse a suitor, 
after he has favored the man to a certain extent he will not abandon 
him, at the sacrifice of both the suitor's support and his own former 
acts of favor. 

L. OF STUDIES 

The Latin version begins : " Studies and the perusal of books serve 
for delight in meditation, for ornament in conversation, and for help in 
business." 

Humor of a scholar. See Of Ambition (xxxvi) , first note. Here the 
word humor seems to mean whimsical or eccentric disposition. 

Directions too much at large. Latin version : instruction that is 
vague and general. 

Poets witty. In what sense does Bacon use the word wit? See Of 
Truth (i) ; Of Simulation and Dissimulation (vi) . Schmidt (Shake- 



224 NOTES [Li 

speare Lexicon) explains that Shakespeare uses the word witty in three 
senses : (i) wise, (2) cunning, (3) witty in the modern sense. 

Cymini sectores. Splitters of cummin seeds. What is the modern 
metaphor for dealers in fine, insignificant distinctions ? What was 
Bacon's opinion of the Schoolmen and scholastic philosophy ? See 
Introduction. 

Not apt to beat over matters. The Latin says, " slow in the motion 
of his mind to and fro." Does the context indicate that the phrase 
" beat over matters " means, as we now say, " thresh matters over " or 
" thresh the subject out " ; or, does it suggest the idea of " beating over " 
a field to rouse the game concealed in it ? (Definition of beat, v.t., 3, 
International Dictionary.) 

LI. OF FACTION 

Compare Machiavelli, Discourses, iii. 27. 

See Essay xi, last paragraph, first sentence. Find the same idea 
more fully elaborated here. In what connection is faction regarded in 
Essay xv ? 

Was the best policy of dealing with factions a matter of political 
interest in Bacon's time ? 

Primum mobile. See note, Essay xv. 

LII. OF CEREMONIES AND RESPECTS 

Only real. In view of the subject of the essay, and of the simile of 
the stone, what is the evident meaning of this phrase ? 

That [who] breaketh his mind too much. What is the meaning of 
the verb ? Cf. " To break a colt to harness." 

Observations = observances ; an obsolete use. Note that Bacon has 
said " that small matters win great commendation." Here he wishes to 
guard against over-scrupulous regard for trivial matters of form. 

Formal natures. Persons who attach great importance to the nice 
observation of conventionalities. Latin translation: ingenio fastidioso; 
" of fastidious disposition." 

Effectual and imprinting passages. The Latin rendering runs, " a 
kind of artificial mode of insinuation in the very utterance of the words 
in the paying of compliments, that captivates people." 

To apply one's self to others. To bestow attention upon others. 

Upon regard and not upon facility. From a motive of real interest, 



liv] OF VAINGLORY 225 

and not from mere dexterity in passing compliments, or affability. 
Bacon advised Essex not to be over-formal in his complimentary 
speeches to the Queen, but to speak in a manner expressive of sincerity. 

It is a good precept, etc. What did Bacon probably think to be the 
advantage of such a policy ? Note connection with preceding sentence. 

That attribute. The slur of being too precise in paying compliments. 

Solomon. See Eccl. xi. 4. 

A wise man will make, etc. Study out the connection of this thought 
with that of the context. 

Point device. Nice ; precise. See As You Like It, iii. 2. 401. " You 
are rather point device in your accoutrements " ; that is, dressed with 
finical nicety. 

LIII. OF PRAISE 

Explain the meaning of the first sentence. 

It is as the glass. Its character is determined by, etc. 

Naught. Naught (noun), nothing; (adjective), worthless; wicked; 
base. This latter meaning is obsolete. Which is the meaning here ? 
Bacon held a low opinion of ordinary human nature. See Of Boldness : 
" There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise." 

Arch-flatterer. What passage in the seventh paragraph of the essay 
Of Friendship (xxvii) expresses the same idea ? 

Out of countenance. Abashed ; conscious of failure or deficiency. 
How do you think this phrase must have originated ? Cf. note, Of 
Boldness (xii). 

Spreta conscientia. From the context does Bacon mean defying the 
flattered person's consciousness of his own defects, or the flatterer's 
conscience in the misrepresentation ? 

Grecians. The allusion is to a passage in Theocritus. 

Solomon. See Pro v. xxvii. 

Notice the construction of the latter part of the first sentence of the 
last paragraph. See Shakespearian Grammar, paragraph 353. 

LIV. OF VAINGLORY 

What is the logical connection between the subject of this and of 
the preceding essay? 

Find thought connections between paragraph 1 of this essay and 
paragraph 2 of Essay xlvii. Between paragraph 2 and Essay xxxii. 
Note the politician's conception of men as instruments to be " used." 



226 NOTES [LV 

Compare parts of paragraph 3 with passage in Essay Iiii. Find a 
passage near the close of Essay xxxii that appears to have been sug- 
gested by the passage here quoted from Pliny. 
Is there " wisdom for a man's self" in this essay? 

LV. OF HONOR AND REPUTATION 

Affect honor. Affect here means aspire to, strive after, as in, " He 
affects the dignity of a philosopher." In what other sense does Bacon 
use the word ? Find an instance. 

Music will be the fuller. Explain the metaphor. 

Honor that is . . . broken upon another. The meaning of broken is 
somewhat obscure. Perhaps it is the passive participle of the old verb to 
broke, meaning to transact business ; the phrase would thus appear to 
mean honor gained by competition with another (" Diamond cut dia- 
mond") . The Latin version reads, " Honor that is comparative and 
depresses others." 

The quickest reflection. See Of Praise (liii) , beginning. Quickest 
— the most vivid, the brightest. 

Envy ... is best extinguished. What counsel on this point is 
given in the essay Of Envy (ix) ? 

Felicity. See Of Fortune (xl), paragraph 3. What is the evident 
meaning of the word in both cases ? 

Degrees of . . . honor. Cf. Machiavelli's " Degrees of honor." 
(1) Founders of religions. (2) Founders of kingdoms. (3) Gen- 
erals whose armies have enlarged the dominion of their country. 
(4) Learned men. (5) Artificers and mechanics. 

Ottoman. Or Othman, or Osman, 1259-1326, founder of the Ottoman 
Empire. 

Edgar. See Green, Short History of the English People, p. 54. 

Siete partidas. A general collection of Spanish laws, made by 
Alphonso X ; it was arranged in seven parts. 

Vespasian delivered the Empire from the civil wars that followed the 
death of Nero. 

Aurelian. Emperor, A.D. 270. 

Theodoricus liberated Italy from the Gothic conqueror, Odoacer, 
A.D. 493. 

The allusion is to the following story : — 

Regulus, having been taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, was sent 
by them to Rome to negotiate an exchange of prisoners with the 



lvii] OF ANGER 227 

Romans. But in spite of the fact that such exchange would have re- 
sulted in his own liberation, he advised his countrymen against it as 
unwise, and voluntarily returned to Carthage, where he was tortured to 
death as a result of the failure of his mission. See Horace, Odes, iii. 5. 
Decius, the plebian consul of Rome, devoted himself to death in battle, 
B.C. 339. The other Decius met death in a similar manner, B.C. 295. 
See Virgil, sEneid, vi. 825. 

LVI. OF JUDICATURE 

The duties of judges was a subject upon which Bacon could write 
from an abundance of reflection and experience. He treats the subject 
in a clear, sensible, and noble manner. Such teaching as is contained 
in this essay never becomes obsolete. It is a pity that Bacon did not 
carry out the principles he had written down in 1607 in the essay Of 
Great Place (xi), paragraph 4. 

Catching and polling. Greedy and plundering. "To poll" meant 
to cut the hair from the head, hence to strip, to rob. 

Sowers of suits. Cf. " general contrivers of suits," Essay xlix. 

LVII. OF ANGER 

Bacon here considers anger as a passion excited by personal injury 
or wrong. Of righteous anger aroused by the spectacle of wrong 
triumphing over right he says nothing. He regards anger as an incura- 
ble fault or baseness of human nature, only tolerable because insepara- 
ble from man's imperfect state of existence. How does this view reflect 
a characteristic of Bacon's own nature ? Do you find any views in this 
essay suggestive of Machiavellian policy, e.g., the treatment of men as 
mere instruments, or counters in a game ? 

Better oracles. See Eph. iv. 26. 

Both in race and in time. The Latin version reads, "both as to 
how far and how long." What does race, then, evidently mean ? 

That = what; that which. See Glossary; and note on the essay Of 
Discourse (xxxii). 

Give law to himself. What power does a man exercise when he 
"gives law to himself" ? 

Construction of the injury. Think of a synonym for construction 
in, " He puts the worst possible construction upon my words." 

Opinion of the touch, etc. Belief that one's reputation has been 
touched or injured. See Of Discourse (xxxii), " speech of touch." 



228 NOTES [lvii 

Consalvo. Gonzales of Cordova, the " Great Captain," expelled the 
French from Naples, 1497. 

Telam honoris crassiorem. Bacon appears to have in mind the 
prevalent custom of dueling. In a discussion of this practice in 1613 
he writes : " It were good that men did hearken unto the saying of Con- 
salvo, ' A gentleman's honor should be de tela crassiore, of a good 
strong warp or web, that every little thing should not catch in it.' " 

Aculeate and proper. Sharp and personal. Latin version, "pecul- 
iar to the person whom we are assailing." 

LVIII. OF THE VICISSITUDES OF THINGS 

A loosely constructed and somewhat fanciful discussion. To a 
modern reader some of the ideas seem puerile ; but scientific curiosity 
was less general in Bacon's time than now, and the means of satisfying 
it were much less ample. Bacon's speculations about the West Indies 
were no doubt of great interest to the early readers of the Essays. 

Professor Arber thinks that this essay was altogether suggested by 
Chapter v, Book II, of Machiavelli's Discourses, entitled, " That the 
Changes of Religion and Languages, together with the Changes of 
Floods and Pestilences, Abolish the Memory of Things." 

OF FAME 

This fragment was first published in 1657, thirty-one years after 
Bacon's death, by his chaplain and earliest biographer, Rev. William 
Rawley, D.D., in Resuscitatio, p. 281. (See Arber, A Harmony of the 
Essays, Prologue xi, et sea.) 

The nature of rumors, and the part they play in shaping events, 
Bacon considers a matter of great political interest. 



GLOSSARY 

The Roman numerals refer to the Essays. 

Abstract. Ascetic; hermit -like. Lat. abstractus, withdrawn from 
[the world]. 

Absurdly. In a perverse or unreasonable manner, xlii. 

Admiration. Wonder; astonishment. Lat. admirari, to won- 
der, liii. 

Adust. Fiery; scorched. A technical term of medicine, now 
obsolete, xxxvi. 

Advised. Well-informed ; thoughtful, xviii. 

Affect. To desire ; to aim at. xiii. To like; to have "affection" 
for. xxii, xxxviii, xlvii. Lat. affecto, I aim at. 

Affecting. Seeking; aiming at. i, xiii, lv. 

Affections. Feelings ; passions, i, ii, ix, xxvii, xlii. 

Agreeably. Suitably, xxxii. 

Allow. Admit; approve, xviii. Cf. "To allow a claim." 

An, And. If. Common in Elizabethan and Middle English 
writers, xxiii, xl. 

Apparent. Conspicuous, xl. 

Apposed. Questioned ; posed, xxii. 

Apt. Fitted (the literal meaning of apt) . xxix. 

Argument. Theme; subject-matter, xxix. 

As. That (after so"), xi, xxi, xxiii, xxvii, xxviii, xxx, xxxvi, xxxviii, 
xxxix. A frequent construction in Shakespeare and contem- 
porary English writers. See Shakespearian Grammar, 1" 109. 
That ... as = such that. v. Shakespearian Grammar, H 280. 

Audits. Monetary accounts, xxxiv. 

Aversation. Aversion. [Obsolete.] xxvii. 

Bear. To bear it = "to carry it off," or "to carry the matter 
through." Cf. the idiom, " to brave it out," wherein the 

229 



230 GLOSSARY 

pronoun has an indefinite meaning as in the expression, " He 

farms it for a living." xxvi. 
Because. In order that, xxv, xxxiv. See Shakespearian Gram- 
mar, 1 117. 
Becomen. Old form of perfect participle of the verb become, xxix. 
Bias. A weight on the side of the ball used in the game of bowls, 

or a tendency imparted to the ball which swerves it from a 

straight course, xxiii. 
Blacks. Black mourning garments, ii. 
Blanch. To report too favorably ; to flatter, xx. Literally, to 

whiten; hence, to gloss over; to skim over. xxvi. 
Bravery. Boastfulness ; ostentation ; parade. [Obsolete.] xi, 

xxv, xxxvi, xxxix, lvii. 
Broke. To transact business, as a broker, xxxiv. 

Can. To be able. xi. 

Card. Chart, xviii, xxix. 

Cast Reckon; compute; as in "cast a sum." xxvii. Arrange. xlv« 

Catch-polls. Bailiffs. [Poll = head or person.] liii. 

Certainties. Regular fixed income, and expense, xxviii. 

Certify. Send information, xxxiii. 

Chapmen. Merchants; traffickers. A. S. ceapan, to traffic, xxxiv. 

Chargeable. Costly, xxix. 

Check. To interfere. A metaphor drawn from the game of chess. 
x, xxxi. 

Choler. One of the four humors of the body, xxxvi. See note. 

Chop. Exchange words, lvi. 

Chopping. Exchanging; buying and selling. Cf. Chapmen, above, 
xxxiv. 

Circumstances. Introductory particulars, xxxii. 

Civil. Unofficial, xxvii. Tranquil, xvii. Seemly, xlviii. Civil 
business = social and business intercourse, i, xii. 

Clearing. Freeing from incumbrance or debt, xxviii. 

Close. Hidden; secret, xi. 

Collect. Infer, xxxv. 

Collegiate. Collective; combined. Lat. col -f- legere, to bind to- 
gether. Cf. collect, xxxix. 

Compound. Settle, xlix, lv, lviii. 



GLOSSARY 231 

Conceit. Conception; idea; imagination, vi, xxxiv. 

Conscience. Consciousness, xi. 

Contain. To hold together, xxix. To hold back. lvii. 

Content. Please, xxxii. 

Conversation. Communion; manner of life, xxvii. 

Creature. Created thing, i. 

Cunning. Skillful, xlvii. Skill. 1. 

Cunningly. Skillfully, xxix. 

Curiosities. Niceties; elaborate, minute, and perhaps useless, dis- 
tinctions or particulars, ix. 

Curious. Careful about particulars and small details, ix, xxv, Hi. 
Fine-spun and impractical, xxvi. Lat. cura, care. 

Curiously. With minute care about details. 1. 

Currently. Smoothly. [Obsolete.] xxxi. 

Declaring. Making clear. [A Latinism.] lv. 

Decline. To decrease; to diminish. (No longer used transitively 

in this sense.) xl. 
Deliveries. Deliverances; ways of expressing one's nature, of 

showing one's qualities, xl. 
Dependencies. Body of dependents; followers, xx, xxxvi. 
Derive. To drain off. Lat. de, from + rivus, a stream, ix. 
Difficileness. A Latinism meaning surliness ; obstinacy ; the 

temper of being hard to please, xiii. Cf. Facility, below. 
Discover. To uncover; to reveal, or disclose, v, xlviii. 
Discovery. Revelation, vi. 
Dispense. Dispense with = to give dispensation for; to pardon. 

xxxvi. 
Doctor. Teacher; learned man. iii, xiii. 
Dole. The act of dealing out. xxxiv, lv. 
Dry. Severe; hard. A dry blow = a smart hit. xxxii. 

Eccentric. Literally, out of center; not coincident, xxiii. 
Ejaculation. A throwing out. ix. 

Engrossing. Buying in the gross or bulk. ix. Monopolizing, xv. 
Estate. State; government. [Obsolete.] ix, xxix. 
Exaltation. That position of a planet in the zodiac in which it was 
supposed by astrologers to exert its strongest influence, xxxix. 



232 GLOSSARY 

Exercised. Practiced in endurance, xl. 

Expect. To wait for; to await. [Obsolete.] xxxiv. 

Facility. Easiness to be persuaded; compliance; pliancy; com- 
plaisance; affability, xi, lii. Cf. Difficileness, above. 

Fair. Merely; simply; quietly [?]. vi. 

Favor. Face; features, xxvii. 

Flash. Instant. Used metaphorically. Cf. the simile, " quick as 
z. flash." xxix. 

Flashy. Insipid; transitory [?]. 1. 

Flower. (Usually in the plural.) In old chemistry, a substance 
in the form of a powder, especially when condensed from sub- 
limation. Another form of flour, xxvii. 

Formalists. Pretenders to wisdom, xxvi. 

Forms. Manners; behavior in society, li. 

Futile. Literally, leaky. Lat. futilis, that easily pours out. vi, xx. 

Galliards. A lively French dance, xxxii. 

Gaudery. Finery, xxix. 

Giddiness. A whirl or constant change of thought, i. 

Habilitation. Equipment; qualification. [Obsolete.] xxix. 
His. Possessive form of it. x, xxiii, xxxvi, xxxix. See note, Of 

Wisdom for a Alan's Self (xxiii). 
Humor. Eccentric disposition. 1. 
Hundred poll. Hundredth head, i.e., person, xxix. 
Husband. An economical guardian; a frugal manager, lv. 

Impertinent. Not to the point ; irrelevant, xxvi. 

Importune. Importunate; unduly urgent or insistent, xxxviii. 

Imposeth. Places a responsibility, i. 

Impostumations. Abscesses, xv. 

Impropriate. Appropriate, xxix. 

Incensed. Burned as incense, v. 

Incurreth. Lat. in + currere, to run into. This meaning of incur 

is obsolete. Cf. excursion, current, course, ix. 
Indifferent. Even-handed; impartial; not committed to either 

side, vi, xx. 



GLOSSARY 233 

Industriously. Purposely. Lat. de industria, of purpose. (Not 

in the now usual sense of diligently.) vi. 
Influence. A flowing in. See influent, International Dictionary, ix. 
Intend. To take care of; to attend to. [Obsolete.] xxix. 
Interlocution. Speaking turn and turn about; conversation, xxxii. 
Inward. Intimate; confidential, xi, xx. 

Leads. A roof of lead, xx, xlv. 
Letting. Hindering, xlvi. 

Lively. To the life; exactly. An adjective form used adver- 
bially, v. 

Mainly. To a great degree; mightily. Cf. " might and main." 
xxxiv. 

Managed. Trained, vi. 

Mates. Enfeebles; confounds; overcomes. Fr. mater, to en- 
feeble, ii. 

May as well. Is as likely to. xxviii. 

Mean. In a mean = in a moderate way or degree, v. 

Meeteth with. Expresses. Colloquially, "hits it." xxvii. 

Mere. Unmixed; complete; absolute, xiii, xxvii. Cf. Macbeth, 
iv. 3. 132: — 

"The mere despair of surgery." 

Merely. Entirely; altogether, iv, xxix, lviii. 

Moderate. To control and determine, xxxii. Cf. moderator in 
Essay xxv. 

Mortification. Books of mortification = books of monastic disci- 
pline or penance, ii. 

Mought. Obsolete form of the verb might, xxii, xxvii, xxxiv. 

Nature. Disposition, or inclination, xx. 

Naught. Base; wicked, xxxiv. See note, Of Praise, liii. 

Nice. Scrupulous; fastidious; precise, xxix. 

Niceness. Fastidiousness, ii. 

Obnoxious. A Latinism meaning subject; liable; dependent. 

xx, xxxvi, xliv. 
Obtain to. Attain, vi„ 
Odds. Chances. It is odds = the chances are. xxi. 



234 GLOSSARY 

Oes. Circlets, xxxvii. 

Officious. Able to serve; helpful; useful, xliv, xlviii. 

Overcome. To master; to take advantage of. xxxiv, lv. 

Pairs. Impairs, xxiv. 

Passing. Surpassing, vi. 

Period. End; conclusion. Gr. irepi, round + 656s, a way; i.e., 

a revolution; hence, completion, conclusion, xxv, xlii. 
Perish. To kill; to deaden; to impair. The verb is no longer 

used transitively, xxvii. 
Philanthropia. Philanthropy; love of mankind. Qi.misanthropi, 

haters of mankind, toward the end of the essay, xiii. 
Place. Rank; social precedence, xviii. 
Plausible. Deserving of applause. [Obsolete.] ix. 
Politics. Politicians, iii, xiii. Politic ministers = ministers of the 

body politic, or the state; officers of government, xxix. 
Popular states. Popular governments; democracies, xii. 
Poser. One who asks questions for the purpose of puzzling the 

person questioned, xxxii. 
Practice. Strategy ; scheming ; artful management or plotting. 

[Obsolete.] xlvii. 
Praying in. A legal phrase meaning calling in. xxvii. 
Preoccupate. To anticipate; to take before. [Obsolete.] ii. 
Prest. Lat. prcestus, prompt ; ready. [Obsolete.] xxix. 
Prick in. To plant, xviii. 
Proper. Peculiar, xxvii. 
Provinces. Departments; subjects, xx. 

Proyning. O.E. proine, to prune. Pruning. [Obsolete.] 1. 
Purchase. To acquire by seeking. Lat. pro + charier, to pursue; 

to chase, lv. 
Purprise. Inclosure. lvi. 
Push. Pustule; pimple, liii. 

Quarrel. A cause or occasion of dispute or hostility, xxix. 
Queening, or quecking. A.S. cweccan, to shake. Stirring; 
flinching, xxxix. 

Reciproque. Reciprocal; mutual. The reciproque = the return 
[of love], x. 



GLOSSARY 235 

Redemption. An offset ; an equivalent, ix. 

Relate. To express one's thoughts, xxvii. 

Respects. Expressions of regard, as in the phrase, "to pay one's 
respects." xiv, Hi. Idle respects = irrelevant considerations 
(such as those based upon personal favor, for example), xi. 
Respect (verb) = aim at. 

Restetli. Remains, xxxvi. 

Rid. To dispose of. xxix. 

Round. Complete and consistent; fair; just. Cf. "square deal- 
ing." i, vi. 

Round (adverb). Roundly; vigorously; in earnest. [Obsolete.] 
xxiv. Cf. HaT?ilet, ii. 2. 139: "Went round to work." 

Sarza, or sarsa. Sarsaparilla. xxvii. 

Sbirrerie. Fr. sbire; bailiff; police officer. Offices or employ- 
ments of subordinate sheriffs or police officers, liii. 
Scantling. A small part; a limitation, lv. 
Scope. That which is purposed to be reached or accomplished; 

object. Lat. scopos, a mark or aim. xxix. 
Sensible. Conscious; aware, xi. 
Shadow. Privacy; retirement, xi. 
Shrewd. Mischievous. xxiii. 
Singular. Single, xxix. 
Smother. Stifling smoke or dust; hence, suppression. The Latin 

version has silentio stiffocare, smother in silence, xxvii, xxxi. 
Softly. Slowly, vi. 
Solecism. Absurd mistake, xix. 
Somewhat. Something. Commonly so used in Elizabethan 

English, xxv, xxvi, xxxii. 
Sort. Lat. sors, lot, chance, destiny. To harmonize; to agree; 

to suit, xxxviii. 
Sorted. Harmonized; agreed, vi. Resulted, xxix. 
Sorteth. Results, vii. Results; turns out (first instance) ; agree; 

suits (second instance), xxvii. 
Spangs. Spangles, xxxvii. 
Speculative. Inquisitive, xx. 
Staddles. Forest trees from about two to about six inches in 

diameter of trunk, xxix. 



236 GLOSSARY 

Stand. To stand upon = to insist upon. Cf. stay : "I stay here 

on my bond." — Shy lock. xxix. 
State. Obsolete form of estate, xxviii. In Essay xxix estate = state. 
Still. Always. This is the usual Elizabethan sense of the word. 

i, ix, xi, xiii, xxix, xxx, xxxvi, xxxix. 
Stirps. Families, xiv. 
Stonds. Stops; hindrances, xl, 1. 
Success. Consequence; outcome; event, xlvii. 
Suspect. A thing worthy of suspicion. The word is now applied 

only to suspected persons, xxiv, liii. 

Tax. Blame; censure, xxix. 

Tendering. Having a care for; being tender toward, xxx. 

That. That which; what, xxxii, xxxvi, 1. See note, Of Discourse 

(xxxii) . 
Thorough. Through, v, xlv. 
Tracts. Traits; features, vi. 
Travail. Labor, xxix. 
Travels. Obsolete form of travails, i.e., painful labors. Bacon 

spells travel, travaile. ix. 
Trivial. Commonplace. [Obsolete.] xii. 
Trivially. Commonly; tritely. [Obsolete.] xxix. See note, Of 

Boldness (xii). 

Undertaking. Enterprising, ix. 

Unproper. Improper; unsuitable, xxvii. See Shakespearian 

Grammar, If 442. 
Unready. Badly trained, xlii. 

Ure. Use; practice, vi. Cf. inure, to put into use. ix. 
Use. The practical test of experience, xxxviii. (Verb) Are wont. 

xxvii, xxxii, xl. 

Vein. Natural disposition or bent of mind, i, ix. 

Virtue. Good qualities (not limited to moral virtue), xii, xl, xlii, 

lii. Power, xxvii. 
Vulgar. Common; such as might be applied to many alike, liii. 

Wit. Intellect; understanding, i, vi, xxxii, 1. Discoursing wits 
=c discursive or rambling intellects, i. 



INDEX 



(References are to pages.) 



Abridgments of books, 158. 

Absurdity, 36. 

Acting, 121 sq. 

Action, the chief part of oratory, 

35- 
Actium, battle of, 100. 
Active men, more useful than 

virtuous, 154. 
Administration, of what it con- 
sists, 159. 
Adrian (Hadrian), 24. 
Advancement, art of, xii, 196. 
Adventures, to be guarded with 

certainties, 114. 
Adversity, essay on, 13; 

the blessing of the New Testa- 
ment, 14. 
Advocates, 171. 
Advoutresses, 61. 
^Esop, 139; 

his fable of the cock, 38; 
of the damsel and the mouse, 

124; 
of the fly and the wheel, 165. 
yEtolians, 165. 
Affected, behavior, 161; 

fashions, 196. 
Affections, not improved by age, 

135- 

Agamemnon, 10. 
Age, essay on, 134; 

morally inferior to youth, 135. 
Agents, choice of, 151. 
Agesilaus, 24, 139. 
Agrippa, 83. 
Alchemist's stone, 85. 
Alcibiades, 136. 
Alcoran, 49. 



Alexander the Great, 58; 

his army, 98. 
Alloy, 3. 

Almaigne, empire of, 181. 
Alphonso of Castile, 168. 
Ambition, essay on, 118. 
Ambitious men, how to be used, 
119; 

how to curb, 122. 
Anabaptists, 10. 
Andes, 178. 
Anger, essay on, 174; 

causes and motives of, 175; 

control of, 175-176; 

Bacon's treatment of, 227. 
Anselm, 17. 
Antecamera, 143. 
Antimasque, 122. 
Antiochus, 165. 
Antoninus, M. Aurelius, 84. 
Antonius, Marcus (Mark Antony), 

28, 159. 
Apelles, 137. 
Apollonius, 59, 81. 
Appius Claudius, 28. . 
Applying one's self to others, 162. 
Arbela, battle of, 92. 
Arch-flatterer, a man's self, 28, 

86, 163. 
Argus, 69. 
Arians, 179. 
Aristotle, quoted, 80; 

ostentatious, 166. 
Armada, destruction of, viii. 
Armies, 92, 182. 
Arminians, 179. 

Arms, to be professed by great 
nation, 92. 



237 



238 



INDEX 



Arrangement, the life of dispatch, 

78. 
Arts of advancement, evil, 196. 
Ashes, more generative than dust, 

78. 
Aspiring, its true end, 31. 
Astrologers, 22. 
Atheism, essay on, 49; 

causes of, 51. 
Athenians, 90. 
Atlantis, island of, 178. 
Atomic theory, 50. 
Augustus Caesar, 5, 15, 83, 134, 

136, 184. 
Aulus Gellius, 80. 
Aurelian, 168. 
Aurelius, M., 84. 
Authority, toward children, 19; 

vices of, 33; 

unpopular, 179. 
Aviaries, in gardens, 151. 

Bacon, chronology of his time, 

xxxiv ; 
his literary contemporaries, 

xxxvii ; 
his period, vii; 
life of, xiii; 

political principles of, xii; 
boyhood of, xiii; 
Sir Nicholas, xiii; 
beginnings of his philosophy, 

xiv; 
at Cambridge, xiv; 
beginning of his political career, 

xiv; 
in Paris, xv; 
offends the Queen, xv; 
member of Parliament, xv; 
his Greatest Birth of Time, xv, 

xix; 
his knighthood and marriage, 

xvii; 
member of King's Counsel, xvii ; 
Solicitor-General, xviii; 



Bacon, Attorney-General, xviii; 

member of Privy Council, xviii ; 

Lord Keeper, xviii; 

Baron Verulam, xviii; 

Viscount St. Albans, xviii; 

his political downfall, xviii; 

death of, xix; 

his studies in science and 
philosophy, xviii; 

character of, xx; 

moral endowment of, xx; 

his coldness of nature, xxi, 191; 

his power of will, xxii; 

his influence upon science and 
philosophy, xxii; 

his "New Instrument," xxiii; 

his aim in life, xxiv; 

as a writer, xxiv. 
Bad counsel, marks of, 64. 
Bajazet, 61. 
Balance of power, 60. 
Baltazar Gerard, 125. 
Banks, 130. 

Bargains on large scale, 114. 
Barriers, 122. 
Bartholomew, St., massacre of, 

10. 
Battles by sea, effects of, 100. 
Beauty, essay on, 136; 

has some strangeness, 137; 

like summer fruits, 137; 

decent motion, the principal 
part of, 137. 
Behavior, 161 sq. ; 

should be like apparel, 162. 
Bequests, 112, 114. 
Bernard, St., 52. 
Bias upon the bowl, 74. 
Bion, 51, 

Blacks (mourning garments), 4. 
Blood, men of the first, 125. 
Boasters, qualities of, 165. 
Body, agreement of, with mind, 

138. 
Bold persons a sport, 36. 



INDEX 



239 



Boldness, essay on, 34; 

in civil business, 35; 

an ill keeper of promise, 35; 

Bacon deficient in, 195. 
Books, uses of, 157 sq. 
Briareus, 69. 
Bribery, ^^. 
Broken music, 121. 
Brutus, Decimus, his influence 

over Caesar, 83. 
Brutus, Marcus, a phantom 
appears to, 115; 

mentioned, 159. 
Building, essay on, 139. 
Burrhus, and Tigellinus, 72. 
Burses, 56. 
Busbechius, 78. 

Business, different from cunning, 
69; 

three parts of, 78; 

ripened by degrees, 153. 

Cabinet councils, 64. 

Caesar, Julius, 13, 48, 83, 99, 134, 

159, 168, 184. 
Cain, his envy, 24. 
Calpurnia, 83. 
Cambridge, Bacon at, xiv. 
Canaries, 113. 
Caracalla, 58. 
Cardinals, 164. 
Cassius, 159. 
Cat in the pan, 72. 
Catchpolls, 164. 
Cato Major, 127. 
Causes, second, 50. 
Cecil, xiv. 

Celestial bodies, influence of, 178. 
Celsas, his rule of health, 103. 
Ceremonies, essay on, 161; 

proper use of, 161; 

over-carefulness about, a dis- 
advantage, 162. 
Change, desire of, 76; 

of party, 160. 



Charity, no excess in, 37 ; 
defer not till death, 114. 
Charles V, 58, 60; 

the Hardy (the Bold), 84; 
the Great, 181. 
Chastity, 21. 
Cheerfulness, a means of health, 

102. 
Childless men, 19, 20. 
Children, impediments, 20. 
Choler, a humor, 118. 
Christian resolution, 14. 
Christianity, magnifies goodness, 

38. 
Church, authority claimed by the, 

169. 
Churchmen, 21, 62. 
Cicero, vainglory of, 166; 

quoted, 21, 31, 52, 79, 83, in, 

136, 140, 166, 168. 
Claudius, 71. 
Clearing an estate, 90. 
Clement, Friar, 125. 
Cleon, his dream, 117. 
Clergy, not too numerous, 46. 
Clerks, of law courts, 172. 
Climate, northern more martial 

than southern, 180. 
Closeness, 79. 
Cloth of Arras, 85. 
Coke, xvii. 
Colonies (see Plantations), 107; 

Roman policy in founding, 96. 
Color, beauty of, the lowest 

beauty, 136. 
Comets, their influence, 178. 
Comineus, 84. 
Commerce, basis of, 46. 
Committees, for ripening busi- 
ness, 67. 
Commodus, 58. 
Commonalty, danger from, 47, 62; 

their praise, 163. 
Commonplaces, in conversation, 

105. 



240 



INDEX 



Comparison, always involved in 
envy, 25. 

Compliments, 162. 

Conference, maketh a ready man, 
158. 

Confidence, daughter of Fortune, 
128. 

Conflagrations, agencies of ob- 
livion, 177. 

Consalvo, quoted, 176. 

Constancy, 21. 

Constantine the Great, 61. 

Constantinople, 37, 184. 

Contempt, a continual spur, 138; 
puts an edge upon anger, 175. 

Controversies, in the church, 9. 

Corruption, in office, ^^. 

Cosmus, Duke of Florence, 12, 

134. 

Council of Trent, 54. 
Council table, 67. 
Councils, cabinet, 64. 
Counsel, essay on, 63; 

inconveniences of, 64. 
Counselor, true composition of, 66. 
Counselors, two kinds of, 91. 
Courts of law, 169 sq. 
Covetous men, 20. 
Cowards, 12. 
Crispus, 61. 
Croesus, 93. 
Cross clauses of Christian league, 

8. 
Cunning, essay on, 69; 

points of, 69-73. 
Cunning man, and wise man, 69. 
Custom, essay on, 125; 

alone subdues nature, 123; 

tyranny of, 125; 

deeds governed by, 125; 

force of, 126; 

most perfect when begun in 
youth, 126. 
Cymini sectores, 158. 
Cyrus, 168. 



Danger, from discontentments, 47 ; 

not to be too long awaited, 68. 
David's harp, 14. 
Death, essay on, 4; 

fear of, 4; 

pains of, 4. 
Decii, 169. 
Decimus Brutus, 83. 
Deformed persons envious, 23. 
Deformity, essay on, 137; 

treated as a cause, 138; 

effects of, 138. 
Degrees of honor, 168-169. 
Delays, prevention of, 33; 

essay on, 68; 

in suits, 156, 170. 
Demetrius, 61. 
Democracies, 40. 
Democritus, 50. 
Demosthenes, 34. 
Devil, envious, 28. 
Diagoras, 51. 

Diaries, to be kept by travelers, 55. 
Diet, its effect on health, 102. 
Difficileness, 38. 
Diocletian, 58. 
Discontentment, in body politic, 

44. 
Discourse, essay on, 104; 

more helpful than meditation, 

makes nature less importune, 

123; 
first version of the essay on, 212. 
Discretion, more than eloquence, 

107. 
Diseases, of mind, cured by 

studies, 158. 
Dispatch, essay on, 77; 

true measure of, 77. 
Dissembling one's knowledge, 106. 
Dissimulation, essay on, 15; 
its morality as viewed by 
Bacon, 190. 
Divination, desired by man, 118. 



INDEX 



241 



Doctor of the Gentiles, 7. 

Dog, example of courage and 

generosity, 52. 
Domitian, 58; 

his dream, 116. 
Donatives, 63, 10 1. 
Dreams, 115. 
Droughts, 177. 
Dry light, 86. 
Dueling, how regarded by Bacon, 

188. 
Durer, Albert, 137. 
Dwellings, 140. 

Earthquakes, agencies of oblivion, 

177. 
Eccentrics, 54. 
Economy, 89 sq. 
Edgar, 168. 

Education, essay on, 125. 
Edward II, 61. 
Edward IV, 136. 
Elias, 117. 
Elizabeth, Queen, 71; 

reign of, vii; 

her political sagacity, viii; 

her attitude toward Bacon, xv. 
Empedocles, 81. 
Empire, essay on, 58; 

true temper of, 58. 
Emulation, between brothers, 19. 
England, industrial development 
of, viii; 

intellectual progress of, ix; 

individualism in, ix; 

extravagant fashions in, x; 

Italian influence in, xi; 

subsidies in, 93; 

compared with France, 94. 
English travelers, affected, 57. 
Envy, essay on, 22; 

persons apt to envy others, 

23; 
persons subject to, 24; 
implies comparison, 25; 



Envy, public, a disease, 27; 

how best extinguished, 168. 
Epicurus, 29, 50, 51. 
Epicycles, 54. 
Epimenides, 81. 
Epimetheus, 47. 
Equinoctia, 41. 
Equivocation, 17. 
Escurial, the, 140. 
Essay, the word, xxv. 
Essays, Bacon's, xxv; 

early editions of, xxv; 
wisdom of, xxvi; 
method of, xxvii; 
subject-matter of, xxviii; 
obscurity of, xxix; 
study of, xxx ; 
changes in, xxxi; 
Montaigne's, xxv. 
Essex, Earl of, his career, xv: 
his generosity toward Bacon, 

xvi; 
Bacon's prosecution of, xvii. 
Evil eye, the, 22, 118; 

Bacon's belief in, 191. 
Exchanges, 56. 

Execution, the work of a few, 
78; 
celerity in, 69. 
Exercise, necessary to health, 99. 
Expense, essay on, 89; 

ordinary, limited to half of 
income, 89. 
Experience, in new things, 134; 

perfects studies, 157. 
Experiments, in states, 76. 
Eye, the evil, 22, 118, 191. 

Faces, beautiful, 137. 

Facility, ^3- 

Factions, examples of, 159; 

politic use of, 159; 

the working of, 160. 
Factious followers, to be dis- 
couraged, 153. 



242 



INDEX 



Faith, 3; 

essay on, 183. 
Fame, its pedigree, 42; 

to be held in suspicion, 163; 

like a river, 163; 

essay on, 183; 

poets' representations of, 183; 

false and true, 184. 
Fascination, 22. 
Fashions, affected, 196. 
Favor, beauty of, 136; 

to be kept within bounds, 155. 
Favorites, or privadoes, 82. 
Ferdinand, 60. 
"Fiddling," 91. 
Firearms, 182. 
Fishing, for testaments, 114; 

Bacon's experience in, 214. 
Flatterer, the greatest, a man's 

self, 29, 86, 163. 
Flux, the perpetual, of matter, 177. 
Followers, essay on, 153; 

classes of, 153; 

discreet use of, 154. 
Formal natures, 161. 
Fortune, essay on, 127; 

accidents conduce to, 127; 

in one's own power, 127; 

faculties that make for, 128; 

to be honored and respected, 
128; 

ascribed to Providence, 128; 

blind, but not invisible, 128. 
Founders, of families, 19, 75; 

of nobility, 41 ; 

of states, 168. 
Fountains, 143, 148. 
Fox, Bishop of Winchester, 65. 
France, compared with England, 

94. 
Francis I, 60. 
French, wiser than they seem, 

79- 
Friendship, essay on, 80; 
principal fruit of, 81; 



Friendship, rare, and least be- 
tween equals, 154-155; as 
treated by Bacon in 1612, 
205. 

Futile persons, 16, 64. 

Gains, of trade, 113. 
Galba, 5, 34, 48, 116. 
Galen, his ostentation, 166. 
Garden, plan of a princely, 146- 

Gardening, the purest pleasure, 

144. 
Gardens, essay on, 144; 

for each month, 144. 
Gasca, 139. 
Gaston de Foix, 134. 
Gauls, military greatness of, 97. 
Generals, honor of, 169. 
Gentlemen, when too many, com- 
mons will be base, 94. 
Germans, military greatness of, 97. 
Giddiness, some delight in, 1. 
God, 50 sq.; 

a jealous God, 6. 
Gold, mastered by iron, 93. 
Good forms, attainment of, 161. 
Good thoughts, little better than 

good dreams, 31. 
Goodness, essay on, 37. 
Goths, 97. 
Government, the four pillars of, 

43- 

Governors, duty of, 184. 

Great Britain, her naval power, 
100. 

Great persons, not happy, 31. 

Great place, essay on, 30. 

Greatest Birth 0} Time, xv, xix. 

Gregory the Great, 178. 

Grind with a hand-mill, 65. 

Guicciardini, 60. 

Gunpowder, known in Alex- 
ander's time, 182. 

Gunpowder plot, 10. 



INDEX 



243 



Habit, intermission in forming, 

124. 
Hadrian (Adrian), 24. 
Hand-mill, to grind with, 65. 
Health, requires exercise, 99; 

essay oh, 10 1 ; 

best preservative of, 10 1; 

effect of mind upon, 102. 
Heathen, free from religious con- 
troversies, 6. 
Heavenly bodies, compared to 

princes, 63. 
Helena, 29. 
Hellespont, 184. 
Helmet of Pluto, 69. 
Henry II, of England, 61; 

III, of France, 13, 43; 

IV, of France, 168; 

VI, of England, 116; 

VII, of England, 65, 94, 103, 
116, 168; 

VIII, of England, 60. 
Heraclitus, 86. 

Hercules, and Prometheus, 14. 

Heresies, 7. 

Hermits, 81. 

Hermogenes, 135. 

Hiding a man's self, degrees of, 16. 

Histories, make men wise, 158. 

History of King Henry VII, 62. 

Holy Ghost, n. 

Homer, quoted, 115; 

his verses, 129. 
Honest counsel rare, 87. 
Honest, not too much of the, 128. 
Honor and reputation, essay on, 

167. 
Honor, three advantages of, 120: 

means of gaining, 167-168; 

degrees of, 168-169. 
Hortensius, 136. 
House, on ill seat, a prison, 139; 

ill seat for, 139-140. 
Human nature, 35 ; 

sovereign good of, 2. 



Human relationships, treated by 

Bacon, 190. 
Husbands, bad, 22. 
Hyperbole, comely only in love, 29. 

Ill nature, 12. 

Illiberality of parents, 19. 

Imitation, a globe of precepts, 32. 

Indians, 51; 

Hindoo custom of self-sacrifice, 
126. 

Infantry, the nerve of an army, 94. 

Inferiors, their rights to be re- 
garded, 26, 32 ; 
familiarity with, 162. 

Injuries, 175. 

Injustice, 170 sq. 

Innovations, 75. 

Inquisitive men, envious, 23. 

Integrity, of judges, 170. 

Intermission in forming habits, 
124. 

Invention, more lively in youth, 
134- 

Isabella, Queen, 161. 

Issachar, blessing of, 93. 

Italian influence in England, xi. 

Italians, 19, 37. 

Janizaries, 63, 184. 

Jaureguy, 125. 

Jests, certain things privileged 

from, 105. 
Jesuits, 70. 
Job, 13; 

his afflictions, 14. 
Jousts, 122. 
Judah, blessing of, 93. 
Judges, their duties, influence, 

qualifications, etc., 169- 

174. 
Judicature, essay on, 169. 
Julia, 83. 
Juno, 29. 
Jupiter, 47, 112. 



244 



INDEX 



Justice, wild, 12. 
Justinian, 168. 
Juvenal, quoted, 5. 

Kingdoms, true greatness of, 
essay on, 90; 

origin of essay on, 208. 
Kings, envied only by kings, 25; 

should employ nobles, 41; 

value friendship, 82; 

and factions, 160; 

should consult judges, 173. 
Knee-timber, 39. 
Knowledge, only remembrance, 
177. 

Lacedaemonians, 99. 
Land, price of, 132. 
Laodiceans, 8. 
Law, 169 sq. 
Law courts, 169 sq. 
Lawgivers, 168. 
League, of Christians, 8; 
in France, 43, 60, 160. 
Learned men, best for counsel, 

*57- 

Learning, 157 sq. ; 

winged with ostentation, 166; 

infancy of, 182. 
Legacy hunting {see Fishing for 

Testaments), 114. 
Legend, the Golden, 49. 
Lepanto, battle of, 100. 
Lethe, above ground, 177. 
Letters, of great men requested, 

157; 

when preferable to speech, 151. 
Leucippus, 50. 
Libels, 41, 183. 
Liberty, excessive, 21. 
Lies, love of, 1 ; 

effects of, 165. 
Light, dry, 86. 
Livia, 15, 60, 184. 
Livy, 127, 136. 



Logic, makes men able to con- 
tend, 158. 
Logician, play the true, 113. 
Louis XI, 84. 
Love, essay on, 28; 

excess of, 29; 

of self, the pattern, 38. 
Low Countries, 40; 

excises in, 93. 
Low Countrymen, 46. 
Lucan, quoted, 44. 
Lucian, 51, 186. 
Lucretius, 10, 186. 
Lucullus, 140, 159. 
Lycurgus, 168. 

Macedonia, military greatness of, 

97- 
Machiavelli, his influence upon 

Bacon, xii, xiii; 
quoted, 178; 

his opinions cited, 37, 43, 125. 
Macro, 119. 
Maecenas, 83. 
Magnanimity, atheism destroys, 

52. 
Mahomet, origin of his religion, 

179; 

his "miracle," 35; 

his sword, 10. 
Malignity, natural, 38. 
Manufacturing, value of, 46; 

destroys martial spirit, 96. 
Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), 

28, 159. 
Marcus Aurelius Antonius, 84. 
Marcus Brutus, 115, 159. 
Marriage, essay on, 20; 

of Messalina and Silius, 71. 
Martyrdoms, 180. 
Masques, essay on, 121; 

sketch of, 216. 
Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 10. 
Mathematics, make men subtle, 
158. 



INDEX 



245 



Matter, continual flux of, 177. 
Medici, Lorenzo de, 60. 
Medicine, an innovation, 75. 
Melcombe Regis, represented by 

Bacon, xv. 
Men, essay on nature in, 123. 
Men of war, 63. 
Mercenary forces, 93. 
Merchants, not to be taxed, 62 ; 

see Essay xli, Of Usury, 129. 
Mercy, to be mingled with justice, 

171. 
Military greatness of various 

nations, 97. 
Military persons, need of, 49 ; 

should be vainglorious, 166. 
Military race, the basis of na- 
tional greatness, 93. 
Mines, above ground, 46. 
Miracles, 13. 
Misanthropi, 39. 
Momus, 139. 

Monarchs, gain majesty from 
nobility, 40; 

should make sure of commons, 

47- 
Money, like muck, 46; 

not the sinews of war, 93. 
Monopolies, means of riches, 114. 
Montaigne, his essays, xxv; 

quoted, 3. 
Montgomery, 116. 
Moral philosophy, makes men 

grave, 158. 
Morality, comparative, of youth 

and age, 135. 
"Morris-dance of Heretics," 7. 
Mortgages and usury, 131. 
Mortification, books of, 4, 8. 
Morton, Archbishop, 65. 
Motion, of mind, 3; 

of things, 34; 

natural and forced, 75; 

beauty of, highest beauty, 136- 
137- 



Mountebanks, 35. 

Mucianus, 15, 166, 184. 

Multum incola, etc., 124. 

Music, 121-122. 

Mustapha, Sultan of Turkey, 60. 

Myths, Bacon's interpretation of, 



Narcissus, 71. 

Narses, 24. 

Natural philosophy makes men 

deep, 158. 
Naturalization of foreigners, 95. 
Nature, human, more foolish than 
wise, 35; 
perfected by studies, 157. 
Nature in men, essay on, 123; 

victory over, how gained, 123. 
Naval power of Great Britain, 

100. 
Nebuchadnezzar's tree, 95; 

his image, 10. 
Negative, the easier side of a 

discussion, 80. 
Negotiating, essay on, 151; 

principles and methods of, 

152-153; 
letters and agents in, 1 51-152. 
Nehemiah, 70. 
Nero, 58. 
Neutrality, sometimes indicates 

selfishness, 160. 
Nobility, essay on, 39 ; 

too numerous, causes poverty, 
40, 46. 
Nobles, 62 ; 

dangers from, 46; 
second nobles, 62. 
Normans, military greatness of, 

97- 

Northern countries more mar- 
tial than southern, 180. 

Novelties, to be suspected, 76. 

Numa, 81. 

Nunc dimittis. 6. 



246 



INDEX 



Oblivion, agencies of, 177. 
Occasion, to be seized, 68. 
Octavius, 159. 

Office, effect of, upon politicians, 
160; 
see Essay xi, Of Great Place, 30. 
Old age, essay on, 134. 
Old men, envious, 23. 
Opportunity, choice of, 78. 
Opposition, develops power, 160. 
Optimates, 159. 
Orator, action is the chief part of, 

35- 
Orbs, engines of, 54. 
Order, the life of dispatch, 78. 
Ordnance, early use of, 182. 
Ostentation, 165 sq. 
Otho, 4. 
Ottoman I, 168. 

Over- population, causes war, 181. 
Ovid quoted, 105. 
Oxidrakes, 182. 

Palace, plan of a princely, 140- 

143- 
Pallas, 29, 47. 
Parents, essay on, 18. 
Parsimony, a means of riches, 112. 
Partnerships, 113. 
Patience, 175; 

an essential part of justice, 171. 
Paul, St., quoted, 9, 39, 79, 164, 

174. 
Paulet, Sir Amias, xv. 
Paul's (Church), 73. 
Penal laws, 171. 

People, the, master of supersti- 
tion, 54; 

a bad reformer, 55. 
Peremptoriness, 79. 
Periods, false, 77. 
Persecutions, religious, 10. 
Persians, at Arbela, 92; 

military greatness of, 97. 
Pertinax, 13. 



Phaeton's car, 177. 
Philanthropia, 37. 
Philip II, of Macedon, 61. 
Philip le Bel, 136. 
Philosophy, Bacon's influence 
upon, xxiii; 

depth of, favors religion, 50 ; 

training in, 158. 
Physic, use of, in health and sick- 
ness, 102. 
Pictures, cannot express highest 

element of beauty, 136. 
Pilate, Pontius, 1. 
Pillars, of government, 43. 
Piso, 79. 
Place, shows the man, 33; 

effect of, on politicians, 160. 
Plantations, essay on, 107. 
Plants, garden, 144 sq. 
Plato, 177; 

his "great year," 178; 

his Protagoras, 80; 

his Timceus, and Atlanticus, 
118. 
Plautianus, 83. 
Play-pleasure, 23. 
Pliny, quoted, 167; 

his fame helped by vanity, 166. 
Plutarch, 53, 129. 
Pluto, 112; 

his helmet, 69. 
Plutus, interpreted, 112. 
Poets, make men witty, 158. 
Point, keeping to the, 77. 
Poland, 95. 
Policy, involves dissimulation, 17; 

modern, 59; 

its chief part, 159; 

consists not in faction, 159; 

not opposed to just laws, 174. 
Politicians, 39. 
Politics, art of, studied, x; 

Italian, in England, xii. 
Polycrates, his daughter's dream, 
"5- 



INDEX 



247 



Pomp, Bacon's expression of dis- 
taste for, 222. 
Pompey, 82, 99, 140, 159, 184. 
Popes, 160. 

Poverty, causes sedition, 44. 
Power, 31 ; 

solecism of, 59; 

balance of, 60; 

of a kingdom, 92. 
Practice, should be harder than 

use, 123. 
Pragmatical sanction, 96. 
Praise, essay on, 163; 

its significance measured by 
giver, 163; 

moderate praise, good, 164;. 

an art of ostentation, 166. 
Precedent, rarely equaled by imi- 
tation, 75; 

good precedents, 32. 
Precocity, 135. 
Predecessor in office, treatment of 

his memory, 34. 
Prelates, proud and great, 61. 
Pretorian bands, 63. 
Primum mobile, 43, 54. 
Princes, toys of, 58; 
' difficulties in business of, 59 ; 

like heavenly bodies, 63 ; 

their favorites, 119. 
Probus, 49. 
Prometheus, 14, 47. 
Prophecies, essay on, 115; 

belief in, due to what, 118. 
Prophecy, in Vespasian's time, 

116. 
Prosperity, the blessing of the 

Old Testament, 14. 
Protestants, 43. 
Public revenges fortunate, 13. 
Pythagoras, 84. 
Pythonissa and Saul, 115. 

Quarrels, causes of, 57. 
Questioning, 106. 



Quintessence (fifth essence), 50. 
Quintilian (not Gellius), quoted, 
80. 

Rabelais, master of scoffing, 7. 
Ravaillac, 125. 

Reading, makes a full man, 158. 
Reform, how to accomplish, 32. 
Reformation, and change, 76. 
Regiment of health, essay on, 102. 
Regiomontanus, prediction of, 117. 
Relationships, human, treated by 

Bacon, 190. 
Religion, essay on unity in, 6; 

of the Epicureans, 50; 

privileged from jest, 105 ; 

vicissitudes of, 179; 

how regarded by Bacon, 187. 
Representations, 58. 
Reputation, daughter of Fortune, 
128; 

essay on, 167. 
Reserve, 79. 
Revenge, essay on, 12. 
Rhetoric, makes men able in argu- 
ment, 158. 
Riches, essay on, no. 
Rising unto place, laborious, 30; 

by good and evil arts, 41 ; 

must take sides in, 159. 
Rivalry between brothers con- 
demned, 19. 
Rivers of America, 178. 
Roman Empire, 181; 

colonies, 96; 

naturalization policy, 95. 
Romans, 92. 
Rome, its magnanimity, 52; 

Church of, 169. 
Romulus, 98, 168; 

his legacy to the Romans, 98. 
Roughness, is not severity, 33. 
Round dealing, 3. 
Roxolana, 60. 
Russian monks, custom of, 126. 



248 



INDEX 



Sabinian, 178. 

St. Bartholomew, mas«.cre of, 10. 

St. Bernard, 52. 

St. James, 87. 

St. Paul, 39, 164-165. 

Sanction, pragmatical, 96. 

Sarcasm, 105. 

Satiety, 162. 

Satire, 162. 

Saturn, 53. 

Saul, 115. 

Savages, against atheists, 51; 

colonists should conciliate, no. 
Saxons, military greatness of, 97. 
Schism, 7; 

cause of atheism, 52; 

remedies for, 180. 
Scholars, 46, 157. 
Schoolmen, 54. 
Scipio Africanus, 136. 
Sea, mastery of, 99; 

battles by, 100. 
Second nobles, 62. 
Secrecy, 16; 

in counsel, 69; 

useful in suits, 156; 

excess of, harmful, 8<. 
Secret men, 16. 
Sects, in religion, 179-180. 
Sedentary, arts, left to foreigners, 

97 5 

manufactures destroy martial 
spirit, 96. 
Seditions, essay on, 41 

materials of, 44; 

causes and remedies of, 45. 
Seeming wise, essay on, 79. 
Sejanus, 83, 119. 
Self, speech of, 106. 
Self-love, and society, 73. 
Self-praise, indecent, 164. 
Self- wisdom, 75. 
Selymus I, II, 61. 
Seneca, 5, 13, 114, 115, 166. 
Sentence, harm of unjust, 170 



• 



Septimius Severus, 5, 83, 134. 
Serpent, goings of, 3. 
Servants, corrupt, 74; 

abuse of, 89; 

of nobles, 95; 

help reputation, 168; 

Bacon's, uncontrolled, 208. 
Sforza, Ludovicus, 60. 
Shows, more praised than virtues, 

163. 
Sibylla, offer of, 68. 
Sickness, 103. 
Siding oneself, 34. 
Simulation, essay on, 15. 
Single life, essay on, 20. 
Site, for house, 139. 
Skeptics, 185. 

Slavery, advantages of, 96-97. 
Small matters, win great com- 
mendation, 161. 
Society, and self-love, 73 ; 

and solitude, 80 sq. 
Socrates, 139; 

ostentatious, 166. 
Soldiers, 21, 119. 
Solitude, and society, 80 sq. 
Solomon, 12, 14, 19, 33, 63, 73; 

quoted, in, 112, 162, 164, 170, 

i77; 

his son, 64. 
Solon, 93, 168, 178. 
Solyman, 60. 
Sophy of Persia, 136. 
Sorcery, 13. 

Spain, its colonial expansion, 96. 
Spaniards, of small dispatch, 77; 

military greatness of, 97. 
Spanish proverb, 18, 45. 
Spartans, of small dispatch, 77; 

their naturalization policy, 95; 

their military organization, 97; 

Spartan lads, 126. 
Speech {see Discourse), discretion 
in, 107; 

preferable to writing, 151; 



INDEX 



249 



Speech, "of touch," 106. 
Spirits, 23, 36. 
Spying followers,. 153. 
Standing commissions, 67. 
Stars, influence of, 22. 
State, size of, not measure of 
power, 92; 
principal point of greatness in, 

93- 
Stoics, 5, 13, 174. 
Strangers, to be received, 97. 
Studies, must be regular, 124; 

essay on uses of, 157. 
Suitors, essay on, 155. 
Suits, motives in undertaking, 

I5S; 

secrecy, delays, abuses, choice 
of means, in, 156; 

timing, principles in conduct, 
of, 156; 

parties to, 170-173. 
Summaries of books, 158. 
Superstition, essay on, 53; 

causes of, 54; 

equipollent to custom, 125. 
Suspicion, essay on, 103; 

remedies for effects of, 103-104. 
Switzers, 40. 
Sword, temporal and spiritual, 10; 

of Mahomet, 10. 
Sylla, L., 82. 

Table, to dash first against 

second, 10. 
Tables, the twelve, 173. 
Tacitus cited, 15, 34, 42, 43, 49, 

59, 114, 166. 
Tact, in conversation, 106. 
Talmud, 49. 
Tamerlane, 24. 
Tartary, over-populated, 181. 
Taxes, and imposts, 62; 

diminish martial temper, 93; 
colonies not to be burdened 

with, 109. 



Testament, Old and New, 14. 
Testaments, fishing for, 114, 214. 
Testimonials, 157. 
Thales, story of, 191. 
Theater, God's, 32. 
Themistocles, 90, 101, 184. 
Theodoricus, liberator of Italy, 

168. 
Thomas a Becket, 6r. 
Thoughts, useless without deeds, 

3 1 - 
Tiberius, 5, 15, 83, 116, 119, 184. 
Tigellinus, and Burrhus, 72. 
Tigranes, 92. 
Time, the greatest innovator, 75; 

the measure of business, 77. 
Timing, the beginnings of under- 
takings, 68; 

of suits, 156. 
Timoleon, his fortune compared, 

129. 
Tobacco, 109. 
Tourneys, 122. 
Trades, gains of, 113. 
Traitor, in faction, 160. 
Trajan, 84. 
Travel, essay on, 55; 

what to see in, 56; 

acquaintances in, 57; 

in Elizabethan times, 198. 
Trent, Council of, 54. 
Trinity College, Bacon's residence 

at, xiv. 
Triumph, Roman, a wise institu- 
tion, 101. 
Triumphs, essay on, 121. 
Troubles, essay on, 41. 
True greatness of kingdoms, essay 
on, 90; 

origin of essay, 208. 
Truth, essay on, 1 ; 

the word, as used by Bacon, 185. 
Tully (see Cicero). 
Turks, 21, 37, 40, 61, 97-98. 
"Turning of cat in pan," 72. 



250 



INDEX 



Ulysses, 21. 

Unaffected behavior, 161. 
Understanding, persons and mat- 
ters, 69; 

friendship illuminates, 85. 
Uniformity, distinct from unity, 9. 
Union of England and Scotland, 

67. 
Unity, in religion, essay on, 6 ; 

band of, 6; 

fruits of, 7; 

means of, 10. 
Unmarried men, 21. 
Use, before uniformity, in build- 
ings, 139. 
Usury, condemned, 113; 

certain means of gain, 113; 

essay on, 129; 

sketch of, 218. 
Utopia, 132. 

Vainglory, 165. 

Vatican, 140. 

Vespasian, 5, 15, 34, 59, 136, 

168. 
Vicissitudes, of things, essay on, 

i77; 
of religion, 179. 
Vinum deemonum, 2. 
Virgil, quoted, 41, 42, 92, 94. 
Virginia plantation, 109. 
Virtue, riches the baggage of, 
in ; 
best plain set, 136. 
Virtues, like precious odors, 14; 
little, make men fortunate, 

128; 
small, win great commendation, 

161; 
those most praised, 163. 
Vitellius, 15, 184. 
Vivacity, in age excellent for busi- 
ness, 134. 
Vocations, choice of, 20. 



War, occasions of, 98; 

civil and foreign, 100; 

vicissitudes of, 180; 

causes of, 181 ; 

conduct of, 182; 

weapons of, 182. 
Warlike people, a little idle, 96. 
Wealth (see Riches), in; 

source of, in a state, 46. 
Weather, periodicity in, 179. 
West Indies, 177. 
Wife and children, impediments, 

20. 
Will, not benefited by age, 135. 
William Rufus, 62. 
Wisdom for a man's self, essay on, 

735 

a depraved thing, 75. 
Wise men, 26, 35, 54, 69, 128, 

157, 162. 
Wit, 1, 15, 105, 138. 
Witchcraft, cure of, 26; 

how regarded by Bacon, 188. 
Witches, 13. 
Wits, discoursing, 1. 
Wives, impediments, 20; 

good, 22; 

of kings, 60. 
Writing, facilitates dispatch, 78; 

makes men exact, 158. 

Xerxes, 184. 

Year, Plato's great, 178. 

Young men's invention better 

than old men's, 134. 
Youth and age, essay on, 134; 
in business, 134-135; 
in morals, 135; 

in History of Life and Death, 
219. 

Zanger, son of Solyman, 139. 
Zealots, 8. 






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